RISEMBOOL SOUTH, MARDI GRAS DAY, 2008, 4:00PM
Edwin Hoenheim Elric, heir to the Elric family alchemic dynasty and full time teenage homophobe, was making yet another attempt at disappearing over the dunes, down the beach and away from his freakish family. Not that he had any idea where the hell he would run off to, really. Sullivan's Island was, in the local vernacular, 'tee-ninecy', its lone convenience store well stocked with sun screen and boogie boards but sadly lacking in video games. He could hang out in the pocket sized town park, but being right next door to the fire station he was bound to be spotted and questioned—and escorted back to the old white house on I'on Avenue where the Jolly Roger and the flag of Amestris snapped in the wind alongside Old Glory.
That old swamp hag, Mrs. Havoc, had caught him an hour ago, digging her scrawny fingers deep in his arm and dragging him back to hell. She told him Aunt Tricia and Uncle Jean would be hurt if he missed their handfasting, and yeah, that did bother him some. Aunt Tee was beyond cool, and Uncle Jean Havoc was fast becoming his hero, with his black leather jacket and big-assed Harley Electra-Glide and shoulders that made him look like he never once cheated at the bench press at Gold's Gym. Havoc's family had fled Hurricane Katrina and resurrected the family blues club in Atlanta, but for some weird reason Uncle Jean was now caught up in the Elric family's business, having spent the past six months in Tokyo with Great Grandfather Alphonse, Aunt Tee and….
…and them. The cocksuckers, that's how he thought of them now. He couldn't even look at family photos of Edward and Mustang without visualizing them naked, sucking each other's--god, it made him sick!—fucking each other up the ass. He imagined them in bed together, doing all sorts of really gross things to each other, goddamn faggots.
Okay, so maybe they'd been like this all along. They never threw it up in people's faces like they were doing now. Nobody knew them as anything other than friends, and that Mustang worked as Edward's assistant since he'd left college. Mustang was actually a chemist and scientist with a PhD, and Edward and Alphonse were both said to be pioneers in rocketry and aerospace technology.
Two smart, educated men, a German from the tiny village of Risembool (bombed out during the war, he'd been told) and a Japanese-born Eurasian from a wealthy clan in Koukura. They looked young enough. They weren't ugly. Hell, women were always fawning all over them both. They could get as much tail as they wanted. So why was it the only tail they wanted was each other's ?
So…the slant eyed cocksucker was helping Aunt Tee get ready, or so he'd heard his dad, Fritz, explain to Uncle Hughes and Aunt Gracia, who had just driven in from where they were staying on the Isle of Palms. Tell Cowboy Roy and Teddy that the Piledriver and the Graceful Goddess are here! Hughes had brayed, then yanked out his digital camera to show Dad the birthing pictures of his latest rug rat, Gigi. Perfect. The Swamp Hag was upstairs. Uncle Cocksucker was on the beach, making sure everything was read for the ceremony. And Mom—
Forget Mom, he had to tell himself. Fuck her. I hope she gets smashed up in a car wreck, along with—
"KEEERRRISSSTTTT!!" He stopped just before he slammed nose-first into the biggest goddamn spider he'd seen this side of the Discovery Channel. Fucker was the size of a Buick, all black and grey and orange, and the entire entrance of the front gate provided the framework for a web that was nearly as big as he was. "Shit!" he spluttered, jumping backwards as the monster in the web waved her legs at him in warning. "I thought you got 86'ed in Return of the King." He wasn't as plump and juicy as Sam Gamgee, but he wasn't taking any chances. If he could just find a stick, knock that damn thing off the web--
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, mon ami. Bad manners."
"Huh?" He spun around to find Jean-Remy Havoc grinning at him, finger lifted in a gesture of caution.
Havoc nodded at the spider. "Pardonez, Madame." The spider calmed down immediately. "A Guardian spirit. One of the Saints. Maman invited her."
This was insane. "She—she invited…that?"
The Cajun nodded again. "One of the Elders. That is Aunt Nancy. She's an orb weaver. Maman asked her to come to the ritual and protect the front door."
Edwin felt the flesh on the back of his neck creep up in folds. "Aunt Nancy? She's no kin to the Elric clan."
Havoc's grin faded. "Aunt Nancy is everybody's aunt, and like your Oncle Edouard she has no tolerance for fools. The fact that she's here means that she needs to be here, understand? Somebody needs to be watched over. Someone is in danger. It could even be you. So you might want to apologize for even thinking of killing her, and while you're at it you might want to tell me why you're so angry with all of us, non?"
He wasn't mad, but on the other hand he wasn't taking no for an answer. Gesturing for Edwin to join him, Havoc hopped up on the picnic table. From that vantage point you could see over the backyard fence, not yet dripping in Don Juan roses and morning glories and moon flowers. It was a warmish spring, but once the sun was fully down it would turn downright chilly. Aunt Tee and Uncle Jean wanted a Mardi Gras handfasting on the beach, so the dress was casual and everybody wore a light jacket or sweater. Havoc wore faded jeans, a crisp linen shirt that was unbuttoned low enough to show off his chest and a darker linen waistcoat embroidered with Celtic knotwork. As they sat together in the dwindling afternoon light Edwin couldn't help admiring how…well…how male Havoc was. Nothing effeminate or faggy. Even his hands looked strong and callused, like he'd done more than punch calculator buttons for a living. I wanna be this kinda man, Edwin decided. Uncle Jean likes girls. Bet he'd never want to stick his dick in some guy's hairy--
"Edwin? There's a gift I want to give ma petite on her bridal day. Something that would mean everything to her. I need your help to prepare it."
Edwin was mystified. "What do you want?"
"Your aunt," said Havoc softly, "you know she had cancer, eh? We can have no babies of our own. We have our child because Taisa told us of his aunt's daughter who visited America and came back with a souvenir she was too young to care for—she was only two years older than you, mon ami. Even though his own family has disowned him, Taisa paid this girl's bills, saw that she got the best of care and found a loving mother to adopt her infant daughter. He shielded her from shame so that the Miyazaki clan would not turn against Reiko the way they turned against his mother Hikari and himself." Which was technically true, although it was another mother who adopted Reiko's child.
Edwin looked thoughtful. "I didn't know," he admitted reluctantly, "but what's that got to do with Aunt Tee's present?"
"What your aunt wants most in this world is a united family. Now, you've learned some things about your family that you didn't want to hear, that make you ill at ease—maybe it disgusts you, I don't know." Edwin opened his mouth. Havoc gestured for silence. "Ecoutez a moi, s'il vous plait. You must listen, my friend. There is no person you meet that does not carry secrets that would upset others--even you, in time if not now. But the Elrics, like the Havocs, will die for one another.
"Your Oncle Edouard, he sacrificed everything for Papa Alphonse—it even cost him his right arm and left leg. He lost them to save his brother's life and never counted the price too high. And when Aunt Teddy was sick with cancer, it was Mustang who never left her side, who made her fight for her survival when she was so tired of life she just wanted to lie down and give up. And these two good men opened their hearts to my and to my mother and sister, simply because I love your aunt so dearly. They are our family now…and so are you.
"Edwin, mon ami…I don't ask that you accept what they do. I ask that you accept what they are: two of the kindest men in the world who have loved you since you were born. Give Ed and Roy a chance. Find some measure of goodness in them. The rest of it—well, it means nothing. Ca rien! They do not ask us to live their lives or to change ourselves. They ask only that we do not close our hearts to them. Can you do this? For Teddy and Izumi's sake, will you try?"
There was a lingering silence. "My mom's ditched us," the boy said finally.
After a moment, Havoc clapped Edwin's shoulder. "Then it is good that we are here to share that loss. Oncle Edouard was very angry and bitter when his father, Hoenheim, ran off and left his mother alone with two small boys to care for. And Roy was rejected by both sides of his family, just for being born out of wedlock. They would be glad to listen to you. I know they will."
4:15 PM, UPSTAIRS
Ka-BLAM! "HEYYYY COWBOY ROY!! Where the hell are ya, buddy?"
"Upstairs, getting the shit slapped out of me by my fiancée?" I called back, shoving Ed backwards and off my chest. "And if you belt me again like that, Asshole," I warned him sharply, "I'll take you apart with a Phillips screw driver and an Allen wrench, you got that?"
So I passed out. Big deal. Ed had pulled the Colonel's antique glove off my right hand. No problem. "Don't get up," Jeanne-Marie cautioned. "You aren't well, Taisa."
Teddy looked frantic, so I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Has to be my glucose levels. I'll have some protein and a glass of orange juice, okay?" Hypoglycemia is a pain in the ass, but my uncle Simon Rogers—the only member of my dad's family to ever give a damn about my mother or me—says it runs on my sire's side of the family and hits most of us around the age of 40. Ed teases me, reminding me that if my blood sugar is low I can always give him a blowjob. "Seven little calories," he taunts, "fat free, low in carbohydrates—you're a chemist, you should know this better than I do." Frankly, if I'm feeling like shit, I'd rather have some turkey on whole wheat—and I'm not talking about my lover, either.
At that moment, the Piledriver and his bride decended upon us. Gracia, being a nurse, gestured everybody back and helped me to my feet. "Taisa, sit down. I'll get you something to eat," she told me before dashing downstairs. I greeted my old friend and ex lover but he didn't hear me—he was absolutely transfixed by the expanse of rosy cleavage above the froth and lace of Teddy's wedding dress.
I introduced him to Teddy's newly renovated bustline: "Piledriver? Meet The Juggernaut—owww! Shit, that hurt! Pull in your claws!"
Hughes was almost speechless. "Damn, Ted—does your daughter look at your chest and yell, 'BUFFET??'"
"Enough of that. You pay respect to de bride, or I'll whip a little hoodoo on yo' asses and you can say au revoir to 'Gaston an' the Twins', if you catch my meanin'. Now, allez! Out, all of you! Give de bride some quiet time before we start. We got 45 minutes—try an' not get into any fights, d'accord?"
"I'll keep them out of trouble, Jeanne," Ed smirked patronizingly.
She shot him a wicked look. "I was talkin' to you, petit garcon. Now scat!"
"Hughes? You aren't thinking of jumping the fence, are you?"
My oldest friend gave me a killing glare over the rim of his scotch. "Don't be ridiculous, Cowboy! I got a wife and two beautiful daughters—"
"And you can't take your eyes off the groom. I thought you said you'd given up 'steak for seafood'. When was the last time--?"
"Back in '97, and it was with you, dipshit. With you and Teddy, before her cancer surgery-- back when we didn't think she was going to make it.." His arm slid around my shoulder, but there was nothing but simple affection in that clasp. "God, those were hard times," he said softly.
"We've all come a long way since then."
"And Ed never threw it up to you?" he asked quietly.
I shook my head and smiled. "Who do you think sent me down here? Told me we'd been together twenty years and this was not going to change anything. Said, 'I'll take care of Alphonse—you and Hughes take care of Teddy.'"
"And we did."
"And we did," I echoed, finishing off the last bite of my sandwich. Ten years…Winry had just died and Al was ready to follow her into the grave. Teddy had been diagnosed with cervical cancer—and had just been through a nasty breakup with Greed—oh, I'm sorry. Let me call him by his Earthside name—Christophe. Evil bastard. Abused her for years until a brief, kind word from a stranger in a New Orleans blues club made her rethink the whole damn thing: I light the candles for you, that the Saints make you strong. Kick his ass to the curb and find someone who'll treat you right, oui? And she punted that son of a bitch right out of her life, and now she's marrying the stranger who lit the candles. "Strange fucking world, ain't it, Hughes?"
"Damn straight, Cowboy Roy." His green eyes sparkled mischievously over the rims of his glasses. "Damn fuckin' straight. Especially," he added, "among these…circus freaks!"
For all the fuss and family drama, the ritual was simplicity itself. A circle of wind-proof torches about twenty feet from the tide line delineated sacred space., outlined on the sand with evergreen and palmetto fronds, wildflowers and seashells the younger cousins has gathered the day before, interspersed with strands of Mardi Gras beads in green, purple and gold—the colors of faith, justice and power. The brief ceremony had been crafted by her long time friends from the Society for Creative Anachronisms, Barb and Terri, who also provided the music. As Terri's warm alto rose in a traditional Cajun love song, we noted that the lyrics had been changed from , "Ma Petite Acadienne" to "Ma Petite Amestrian".
Havoc was escorted into the circle's heart, his mother holding his right arm while his older sister Marie-Luc held his left arm. As they reached Barb at the altar, they kissed him and stepped aside. Three strikes of a Tibetan bell and Teddy was led into the circle, Alphonse and Edward at her sides. All three of them were wearing their Red Coats and gloves, Teddy alone wearing her hood forward to conceal her face. Just before she reached Havoc she paused—Alphonse symbolically drew back his daughter's hood and Ed removed the Coat from her shoulders, revealing her snowy gown and brocade bodice and overskirt.
The groom's reaction was impossible to conceal, and I had to stomp on Hughes' foot to keep him from bursting out with a guffaw. As "Maid" and "Matron" of Honor we moved to stand with Teddy. To our great surprise, it was Edwin who came to stand with the groom.
Our eyes locked for a second. His blonde head jerked in a nod. I smiled and nodded back, then turned my attention to celebration at hand.
Unlike a traditional wedding, there was much laughter and bantering—at one point the bride was laughing so hard she had to tell us all to shut up for a minute so she could catch her breath. Wreaths of oak and ivy, linked by long streamers of purple, gold and green were laid on their heads as their hands were tied together. Each person present accepted a cup of wine and offered a toast and a blessing to Teddy and Jean-Remy. When the cup was passed to Edwin, we all held our breaths.
"I don't know if I believe in love," he said, "but I believe in the two of you. And," he looked straight into my eyes, "I'm sorry I've been such a dick."
There was dead silence, broken by a whoop of laughter from the bride, who gave him a big hug as the rest of us joined in. At that moment, Ed stepped over, slid his arm around my waist and I laid my head on his shoulder in full view of our family and friends….and nobody gave a shit.
I had a twenty wagered with Hughes that Ed would get into a squabble with somebody before Teddy and Havoc departed to spend two nights across the river at the Battery Carriage House, rumored to be one of the most haunted inns in the United States. "That's too easy," he countered. "I'm betting he'll get into a fight with a Havoc."
Did I mention Hughes will do anything to avoid losing a bet??
"So…Edward," he brayed drunkenly, "You let Jeanne-Marie call you a petit-chou. Know what that is? She called you a little cabbage."
"WHAAAAAT??" Ed was off and running, damn it. "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU CALLING KNEE HIGH TO A CABBAGE PATCH DOLL??"
"That's twenty you owe me, Mustang," Hughes crowed. "Pay up!"
Jeanne-Marie had hoisted a few and danced the heels off her boots. "Well, cher—if the sobriquet fits, wear it in good health. A' votre sante!"
"Why, you—"
"Nii-san, don't you dare—"
"Aw, shut up, Al! She just called me a—"
"WAIT ONE GODDAMN MINUTE!" Flushed with anger, Teddy marched angrily to her uncle, ready to flay him alive for disrupting her wedding.
You've seen the footage on YouTube. You've probably emailed the link to your friends. You've probably watched it in slo-mo. I know I have.
You saw it, frame by frame, when Alphonse hoisted his older brother off the ground like a kitten just as Teddy stomped over, flung her arms up in a gesture of utter disgust, drew a deep breath…and suffered a wardrobe malfunction of epic proportions.
Edward Elric, the love of my life, was directly in the line of fire—of two of the most tightly corseted…cannons…in Elric family history.
To wit: Edward got….busted. Right in the face.
Right in front of Edwin. "Christ," he whistled. "Guess you and Mustang aren't the only ones coming out at this shindig."
We may not have to kill that kid after all…….
Hope you have got your things together,
Hope you are quite prepared to die—
Looks like we're in for nasty weather,
One eye is taken for an eye…
--"Bad Moon Rising"(Fogarty)
As a hatchling she clung to the skirts of the wind, letting the breath of fate blow her where it would. After eating her first husband she'd found a spicebush bramble near the dumpster behind Dunagan's Tavern. The flies zoomed crazily after sucking down spilt beer and so many of them blundered into her parlor that she had become downright picky about her preferences. Bluebottles who fed on rotting crabs and dead gulls at the tide line had a pleasant tang to the fang, so to speak, while horseflies were so gamey and rank she'd sting them, wrap 'em up and forget about them.
The old woman had ducked around the dumpster on pretext of getting some empty whiskey boxes for packing. Instead, she planted her hands on her hips and addressed the bushes in a low whisper. "Aunt Nancy, I know you can hear me, Cher. You just come on out, now. We gotta talk, you an' me, d'accord?"
So…a Traiteur—a Cajun folk healer-- or a Gullah. Someone who knew how to shut up and listen to the wind whistling through the Web of Time. Someone that probably knew that within her body burned a spark of something the ancients knew as Anansi, the Trickster. Something intrigued enough to listen to a sunburnt old Cajun woman in a cowboy hat with a dozen ju-ju charms hanging around her wrinkled neck.
"My boy, my Jean-Remy's jumpin' the broom into a strange family, Aunty. Alchemistes. Very old. Very cunning. De bride—she's a good 'un, but there's a shadow on dat family—yes, Cher. Trouble been sniffin' up their coat tails, on account of some old fart that stirred up a stink you can smell in two worlds.
"Now, dey got a nice big yard on I'on Avenue—de one dat flies de green flag wit de white dragon—you know the one I mean? Got a litch-gate in de front. Mighty fine place to spin a web. Good eatin', an' a palmetto tree you can shinny up to keep a watch on de worl'. I tell my son to warn 'em off and leave you be, you might could make yourself to home, guard de yard and be a guest at the weddin'. If you t'ink dat dere be worse omens, you go on and set your web on de gate. Anyone come through it wid evil in dey heart, you sting 'em, sting 'em dead, you hear me? And I teach Miz Teddy the Jubilee Prayer so you knows when not to strike, oui? What you say, old woman? You wanna look after my family?"
And so it was that the orb weaver spider moved to Resembool South, after being duly introduced to its mistress. After she was settled into her hedge, a younger woman came out with the old Cajun. She bowed nervously, threw three coins on the ground and three splashes of rum and began the list of The Innocents--those Aunt Nancy must not strike:
"Cross of Jubilee, Cross of Jubilee—I am Innocent! Izumi Jean Elric is Innocent! Jean-Remy Havoc is Innocent! Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric are Innocent! Roy Mustang is Innocent…."
The boy—that one named Edwin—he had been named by The Innocent Teddy as One Who Is Not Prey. In spite of that, she nearly gave him a sting for threatening her when she was guarding the gate. The Innocent Jean-Remy forced him to apologize—fancy, a bridegroom bowing to a daughter of Anansi on his wedding day! Of all the Innocents on the land that day, it was Havoc she kept her eyes upon.
When they arrived at the Battery Carriage House on their bridal night, Aunt Nancy climbed off the bumper of the hired limo and scrambled up the drainpipe closest Room Ten, where Havoc and his Elric bride would mate together—so odd, that human women ate their menfolk and were eaten in return and did not die of it, although Arachne knows they made the most dreadful sounds that made them sound like they were in the throes of something fatal.
The Innocent Teddy was, in fact, eating her mate and he was howling in rapturous appreciation when Aunty Nancy completed the last of her weaving of a web that stretched from the top of the doorjamb to the threshold, from hinge to crack. She polished off a stray mosquito, stretched out and settled in for a night's vigil. Come the morning she'd curl up among the rosy geraniums in the window box. The Innocents would be staying two full nights. When they caught a cab home, she'd be sharing the ride back to Sullivan's Island.
Shortly after midnight, under the crack of the door of Room 3, there was a flash of sickening green light. It was as if hundreds of tiny fingers plucked mad tunes on the strings of her web. Aunt Nancy flinched and shivered, legs waving frantically. Moments later a slim person of indeterminate age and gender slipped out into the night, locking the door of the third room behind him/her/itself, pocketing the key. Humming sweetly to it/him/herself , she/he/it headed out towards the Battery.
She/he/it paused before the door of Room Ten, admiring Aunt Nancy's handiwork for a moment. A pallid finger flicked out, smashing the venomous guardian against the door. It/he/she made a moue of disgust at the greenish-grey goo that clung to his/its/her finger.
The door to Room Eight swung open. "I'm hungry! No room service! Can't we go find an all night diner, Mr. Greene?"
"Ah. Grossman." The fox-like face, neither masculine nor feminine, stretched into a razor-like smile. It wiped the remnants of the dead spider across pouting, blubbery lips, which the fat man promptly licked as if by instinct.
"Let's go. I have to be about my….Father's…business…."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"I'm not sure it's our place to understand, son. It's just another part of being an Elric. Want another sandwich?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Dad." Butter hissed in the black iron skillet as Al's grandson Fritz Lang Elric tucked slices of extra sharp vermont cheddar between slices of sourdough rye before carefully positioning the sandwich so it would brown without burning. Elric men, it had often been observed, were bottomless pits when it came to the dinner table. With the exception of Edward, all of them were tall and broad shouldered, but the dimmunitive clan elder frequently staged raids on the fridge and pantry that left the kitchen looking like it had been sacked by a horde of Vikings—and the son of a bitch never seemed to gain an ounce of fat anywhere on his spare, muscular frame.
Edwin ripped open a bag of Sunchips, crunched down a handful, and turned once more to study the door to Aunt Tricia's library, now locked from the inside. He'd seen the odd picture of the Really Old Guys, Ed and Alphonse, wearing these weird-assed red coats. Aunt Teddy was wearing one too, and now Mustang and Havoc were wearing black coats with that funny snake-cross-crown family crest in red on the back. About ten minutes ago the five of them had met in the hallway before filing into the library like they were going in for some sorta council meeting. The ol' Swamp Hag, Havoc's mother, had also gone into the library, along with Uncle Mays and Aunt Gracia. His Great Aunt Win-Sara, Al's older daughter, had fixed a big platter of sandwiches for the five, along with two of Gracia's incredible apple pies, which were laid out beside a coffee urn on Teddy's desk. Whatever else could be said, any serious Elric family discussion/debate/argument usually required sustinance--apple pie and coffee at the very least--to keep up the strength of the combatants, which was why most of the truly memorable shouting matches occured at the dinner table.
"Yeah, Dad—but what does it all mean? All those red coats and stuff. Looks kinda dorky. They aren't some sort of Satanic group or something, are they?"
Fritz deftly flipped the sandwich with a sharp jerk of the pan. He had gone into engineering but cooking was one of his real passions. "Very much the opposite. As it was explained to me, the Red Coats were like an honor guard back in Resembool where our family came from before the war. The Red Coats go back to the 1800's."
Edwin snapped off a fresh paper towel to use as a napkin, since he couldn't find the cloth ones. "And wasn't Resembool bombed out in Germany like Dresden?"
Fritz grinned at his son. "You've been paying attention in history class."
"Nope," he cracked open a can of Mountain Dew. "Google'd it. Dresden, I mean. Never found anything about Resembool."
"It was on the German-Austrian border, but I understand Von Hoenheim actually came from Belgium. Great-great grandmother Tricia Elric was from a little farming village called Resembool and that's where they met. Heard his horse lost a shoe and she lived in her parent's farm house, right next door to the smithy He intended to stay the night but ended up staying for good."
"Except when he ran off on her. Geeze, what a tool. Guess dumping people is just family tradition, huh Dad?"
The sudden bitterness in his son's voice made Fritz frown. He had no desire to talk about his wife Julia's desertion with anybody—least of all his teenage son. He slid the sandwich onto a plate and placed the still-smoking skillet into the sink to cool. "I'm going out," he told his son shortly. "Have a good lunch."
The screen door banged behind his heels, and minutes later Edwin Elric heard his father's rented SUV roar into the distance. "Fuck you too, Dad," he muttered, tossing the sandwich into the trash. There was still some wedding cake in the fridge—he could have that for lunch. There was also a few leftover bottles of Woodchuck Hard Cider. Maybe he'd have one of those too…
From the Alchemical Journals of Roy Mustang…
The morning after Teddy and Remy got handfasted I got an urgent text message from the groom on my Blackberry: Red Coat business when we get home.
I showed the text to Edo and Alphonse. Ed nearly sprained his thumb texting back: WTF is going on? R U OK?
Ed ok?
I'm Ed—ok. WTF??
Saw GHOST. Msg for U.
ME?? Said what?
"Winter in München"
He shoved the Blackberry into my hand. "Ohhhh scheiss im himmel!" I heard him mutter as he shot out the door and down the path to the beach.
Only his brother's intervention kept Ed from barging into their room at the Battery Carriage House. "If it were an emergency, Remy would have either called us or called a cab and come home. We're only twenty minutes away. Besides, everybody knows the Carriage House is haunted. There's the Headless Man, and the Gentleman Ghost—"
"—neither of which are personal acquaintances of mine," Ed shot back.
"If it's a ghost that knew you in Germany, who could it be?" I wondered. "You've said you didn't have much of a social circle while you were there, right? I know there was Lang, and Noa the Roma girl you met--oh, and Alfons Heiderich. Wasn't he your flatmate? You met attending lectures on rocketry, right?"
Let me tell you a little secret about my lover: Edward Elric is the shittiest liar in the world. His eyes give him away. Either that or he lashes out in anger and stomps off so he can't give himself away if there's something he's not comfortable talking about. BHe'd read that cryptic message, "Winter in München" and shot out that door like a cat with its ass on fire. Soon as I mentioned Alfons Heiderich—who happens to be the namesake of Al's firstborn and whose picture can be seen in Alfons Elric's photo collection—Edo gave me one of those looks that made me want to yell for somebody to block all acess points to the outside, because Ed was already out of his seat and lookng both restless and suspicious.
Look, Ed is not responsible for Heiderich's death. He was shot by Rudolph Hess because he launched the rocket that sent Ed safely through the Gateway, even though Ed begged him not to do it. Heiderich's last gesture was the sacrifice of a true hero: he gave up everything, including his life, to help our family. If he hadn't done it, Alphonse would not be here and a large number of people I love would never have been born. Alphonse knows full well what his Doppleganger's sacrifice meant for the Elric family and so we have kept the name Alfons in the family since then. In fact, when Win-Sara had her first daughter she named her Heidi—not for the book by Johannan Spyri but in memory of the man who gave his life for her uncle and father.
So—if Ed's beating himself up over Alfons Heiderich, well…
….well…it's an Edward thing, right? Which means if I want to make my lover happy I should just shut the hell up and stay out of it.
The hell I will…
…TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Elfinragdoll for her original FMA song, "Winter in Munich", which was my inspiration—and to Freaksfreecss for her translation into German of Elfy's original lyrics. (I'll take the rap for all German misspellings in the story!) Also to wenrenee for her haunting series, "A Dream" which has touched me deeply.
When
it's winter in Munich and a heart beats cold
Eyes of blue haunting eyes of gold
…