Beggar's Banquet Chapter 17 CONCLUSION

A/N: As we come close to the end of the whole tale, you will find the complete arc and its prequels, "Fifty Trips Around The Sun" and "Three Decembers and a January"

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"Ni-isan?" Alphonse poked at the fire with the toe of his hiking boot, nudging a smoldering chunk back into the heart of the blaze. It occurred to him that the Old English name for such a bit of wood was faggot. Men like his brother and Taisa had been consigned to the flames once upon a time. The thought made him shiver.

Ed didn't look up. His eyes were tightly closed, his face pressed into his lover's hair. Roy slept like a dead man in Ed's embrace, just as Alphonse had done when he emerged from the Gate a year ago. In his own arms, Izumi barely stirred. "I'll watch her through the night," he'd told Teddy. "I'll wake you every few hours if you want to check on her, but I don't think Ed and I will get much sleep. You've been through hell. You rest up now. She'll need her mother when she wakes." Just like Taisa will need my brother. Love is love, I guess. Who the hell am I to judge his feelings for Heiderich? If Alfons had looked any different, would it have changed the way I reacted when I learned about what happened in Munich?

"Ni-isan?"

"Yeah, Al?"

"I'm glad you weren't alone in Germany. I'm glad you had someone to love you."

Edward's eyes squeezed tighter and he was grateful the flickering shadows concealed his face. "Thanks."

Hughes came for them in the morning. He was not alone.

Ed scowled at the stranger. "Want to tell me why the fuck I don't remember meeting you, Mr.---?"

"Call me Jack" The man from Cardiff knelt down and offered his hand. "Hohenheim forgot meeting me, too. It was necessary, once he'd made contact with Dietlinde Eckhart and the Thule Society. Churchill thought he turned double agent. I told Winston that he had a powerful motivation to help the Nazis—stronger than any of his loyalties to Britain."

Ed's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah? What the hell are you talking about?"

"You, Edward. You were his motivation. The Golden Dawn had decayed into a lodge full of scholars who were too afraid to take the same risks Crowley had taken. He wanted a clear path between the worlds to send you home to your brother. He worked with Crowley, by the way—old Aleister helped him create the stones on this side, you know…but the Beast's preoccupation with hallucinogens was his downfall, although he was rather fond of the toad venom your father sent him from Ranamuerte. Anyway, the Thule group had the money, the connections and were willing to risk everything. He used them—and they used him up."

The argument that followed echoed through the canopy and was so strident and impassioned even the tree frogs stopped peeping. Remy retreated so the shouting wouldn't disturb Izumi, but Teddy hung on every word, weighing the consequences in her heart.

The Elrics, it seemed, weren't the only parties that knew about the Gatestones. They were an occult legend, the handiwork of the mysterious Hohenheim of Light—better known as Eyes Of Gold—and Crowley himself. That the curious hadn't uncovered them yet was pure dumb luck more than the vigilance of the Elric brothers. As far as the unclosed Gate in Munich torn open on this side by Hohenheim's sacrifice and in Amestris by Alphonse and Wrath, it was only a matter of time. The Elrics had purchased the land and paid astronomical taxes to the German government to keep the ruins barricaded from prying eyes. "The truth is, Edward, there's a rift there—and maybe it wasn't forged by humans. There's another one in Cardiff, Wales—or didn't your father tell you exactly where he came out when he emerged from the Gateway? You've been watching the Gatestones and the big cosmic suck-hole in Germany. My team watches Cardiff. We're not the only ones, and these aren't the only riffs. And not everybody has your own…er…noble principles. There's damn few of you Elrics. My team's not much bigger. All I'm saying is I want the lines of communication open between us. You may need us—"

"—not damned likely—"
"---you may not want us, but you may need us. And we may need you. I don't want any alchemic horrors from Amestris in this world any more than they want our nukes—or worse. There may be ways of closing the Gates that we might find out. After all," Jack grinned mischievously, "you're not the only one that's traveled between the worlds—and you're damn sure not the oldest man alive. Now," he stood up, dusted off his coat and offered his hand to Edward. "can we shake on the beginnings of a new and beautiful friendship? Or at least to you not shooting me next time I find it necessary to visit your lovely little vacation home outside Munich?"

"I…shot you?" Edward's mouth hung open.

"A couple of times. Of course, what really hurt was having you punch right through my skull with that metal fist of yours. God, that hurt for days, and since there was no Vicodin around I had to make do with gin. Anything to protect your family, I guess."

In the end, Edward said no. Alphonse said yes, and Teddy, Taisa and Remy sided with him. "Brother," Alphonse gestured to his infant granddaughter, "we've lost Edwin, and we couldn't save Fritz or those other innocent people from Envy and Gluttony. We weren't prepared—and it will be a long time before Izumi is old enough to take her place with us. We don't know what else—or who else—has slipped through or what they might bring with them. We need all the help we can get."

"And Edward, sooner or later, you're going to have to leave Japan. In fact, you and your brother will have to disappear for a few decades and come back as your own descendants. If anybody gets hold of you and finds out how old you really are, you're going to find yourself under a bell jar at MIT. We can help you. I've had to dodge that kind of scrutiny for centuries. And that's not to mention Al's family. They've got that same factor. It needs to be mapped—and now thanks to Nigel and Uncle Simon, there are two qualified physicians who can be trusted to study your DNA."

Ed threw up his hands. "Fine. You're all so fucking determined to do this. Just leave me out of it. Hughes? Let's get the hell off this mountain. Call Jeanne-Marie and tell her to get her ass out of bed. Get Nigel to check us out and get Simon ready to leave. Soon as we get to the resort there's gonna be a quickie wedding and then we're hauling ass. We'll have a proper ceremony back in the States—but we came to this hell hole to get married and I'm taking three minutes to marry Taisa and five minutes to fuck him—and I don't give a rat's ass if it's in the goddamned janitor's closet—and then we are outta here."

The blue eyes twinkled wickedly. "Five minutes, Ed? If I had a lover that looked like Colonel Mustang I'd damn sure stretch it to ten. Oh—and Miss Elric, I have a belated wedding present for you and Jean-Remy."

"A present?"

"Give me one month—then go check your medical history. And Izumi's birth certificate." He nodded once, as if quite satisfied. "Hughes? You're something else. If you weren't married….anyway, I'll be in touch. And I'll make my own way back to the hotel."

And he was gone…

Hope Springs Resort was a hopeless mess. Paninya had tried to escape by helicopter, only to loose her tenuous grip on the broken chain ladder, plummeting straight down into the bay in Port Norman. DEA Agent Hawkeye had pursued the chopper in a high speed chase that sent chickens, basket vendors, and dozens of drag queens flying hither and yon in the streets. She commandeered the first boat she found at the docks---and promptly got punched out by Captain Livy Armstrong. "Goddamn you, Annie Oakley! Why did you leave me in New Orleans?" Sometime during the night over a six pack of Red Stripe they cleared up all past misunderstandings and the crew spent the remainder of the night enduring the wild yodeling and the sound of furniture being smashed as the Captain and the DEA Agent noisily reaffirmed their love.

There was a joyful reunion in the bridal suite, Uncle Simon weeping unashamed with relief that Taisa had returned safely from Amestris and Dr. Nigel chattering excitedly about his invitation to join the Elric Foundation and his new challenge—discovering the mysterious side effects of the Philosopher's Stone on the Elric family.

Alphonse wasn't hearing Nigel—he couldn't see anything but the light in Ai-san's eyes. When she whispered in his ear "call me Mei-chan again, Aru" a corner of his heart that had been closed and locked tight since Winry's death swung open wide to welcome her.

While Jeanne-Marie deeply mourned the loss of Edwin, she refused to give in to her pain. "Best way to honor dat boy's courage is to do right by Izumi…and to Django when he comes." The fact that the Django had chosen to honor the Traiteurist's path and had absorbed Remy's patois was proof that the child-to-be was drawn not just to the Elric bloodline but to Remy himself. The child had chosen his father, already knew and loved his sister and was ready to take up the honor and responsibility of his mother's alchemy. "Everybody know Alphonse and Edward, but you wait—one day, you two be known as de ancestors of Izumi and Django Elric. Dey gonna turn dis worl' upside-down."

The wedding chapel was still standing amidst the chaos with the news reporters running all over, frantically shooting footage of the protestors liberating buckets of live frogs and toads, which rocketed over the grass, belching madly. One familiar figure spotted a flash of blonde ponytail and bounded after Edward. "Oh, Edwina! What about your wedding?" He brandished his Nikon and began snapping away gleefully.

"Brinkley, leave me the hell alone!"

"Oh, feeling anxious before the ceremony, eh? That's a great human interest angle. I can see it now—" his hands framed an imaginary magazine headline. "The Lesbian Marriage Phenomenon—Just Like Any Other Bride, Right Down To the Jitters". It'll sell like hotcakes!"

Jeanne-Marie intercepted the reporter, shooing Edward and Mustang towards the women's dressing room. "De girls, they have to get ready, non? Dis be their day, cher. Leave 'em be, d'accord?"

"What the hell is wrong with using the men's side?" Ed grumbled peevishly from the shower stall. "And why does all the goddamned shampoo smell like lilacs?"

"Quit whining," came the voice from the stall on the other side. "You said you wanted to do this quick before we left. This is what we have to work with, so shut up and hurry. Mays has all the paperwork. Teddy? You've got our clothing?"

"Yeah. The garment bags were in the office with your names on them. Only ones still in there. "

"I won't need mine. I was planning to surprise Ed by wearing an Amestrian uniform—but now I've got one for real."

"And you look damned good in it, too," she chuckled. "Anyway, the rest of your stuff is packed, thanks to Ai-san. If you don't mind wearing your uniform on the plane home, we'll leave as soon as you fellahs…er…consummate your nuptials."

"GODMOTHERFUCKIN'DAMNIT!"

"What, Ed!?!?"

"WHERE THE GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKIN' HELL ARE MY CLOTHES?"

The garment bag was clearly labeled "EDWARD ELRIC". The crimson coat and black trousers and tunic had been spitefully replaced by a gown of gleaming white satin. The neck was high. The sleeves were full length and poofy around the shoulders. The plain veil was attached to a simple white hair band…and a pearl rosary completed the ensemble.

"Mon dieu—that's not even a bride's gown—that's a child's First Communion dress!"

"Edouard! Taisa!" Jeanne-Marie called out a warning before poking her head through the doorway. "There are five other parties waiting for the chapel. You have ten minutes before our time slot. Hurry up!"

"Maman, there's been a mix up," Teddy called back. "Edo can't get married. That bitch Paninya swapped his clothes out. Just look at this!" She flapped the offensive garment at her mother in law.

Jeanne-Marie regarded it silently for a few minutes. "Seem to be de right size. Put it on, son."

"WHAT??!!??"

Mrs. Havoc was unimpressed by Ed's fury."I said, put de damn dress on before de toe of my boot makes friendly acquaintance with your backside. Ce n'est pas la mer à boire!"

"I can't get married looking like some twelve year girl old heading to First Communion!" Ed pleaded, turning panicked eyes towards Teddy, Havoc and Roy in hopes one of them would back him up.

"Eh bien…" Havoc considered, "you could lose the rosary…"

A final foof! to the veil and Ed was guided towards a mirror. "Goddamn it, you can dress me up in this piece of shit, but there is no fuckin' way you can make me look!"

"Actually, Edo, you look…well…really…ah…Help me out, Remy. What's the word I'm searching for?"

The word charmante was on the tip of her husband's tongue. Thankfully he bit it back. "It will do, and this shall not take long, eh? You are with your family, N'onc. We will not laugh at you."

The Elrics didn't laugh…but Mustang nearly soiled his uniform. "Fuck you, Taisa!" Ed snarled, going for his lover's throat.

"After the ceremony, sweetheart," Mustang deadpanned, catching Edward's small hands in his own before his windpipe was crushed. "At least I'm handsome enough for both of us…"

"The rings!" Ed wailed, stumbling over the hem of his gown as they headed up the walkway to the chapel's entrance. "Teddy! Where the hell are our rings?"

"Shit! I've got them packed in the luggage," Teddy apologized. "I'll run get 'em."

"No time," Havoc shook his head. "Petite? If you don't mind…" He tugged his own ring off and pressed it into Ed's hand. "A bit big for Taisa, perhaps. And Teddy's may be small for you. It is the gestures that counts. When you remarry in the States, we'll have the right ring, non? So let it do for now."

"Short and sweet, hein?" Jeanne-Marie beamed at them from the pulpit. "Edouard Elric, son of Hohenheim of Light and Tricia Elric. Taisa Roy Mustang, son of Colonel William Rogers and Miyazaki Hikari. You come here in the site of God, the Saints an' your loved ones to be lawfully recognized as husbands and partners. Who are your witnesses?"

Alphonse slid his arm around his brother's shoulders. "I'm here for Ni-isan."

Teddy and Hughes were all smiles. "We've been here for the Cowboy since day one, Ma'am!" Mays grinned.

"Anybody object, we take a little ride out to de swamp an' somebody is gonna go missin'. Nobody gonna stop dis weddin'. Nobody gonna split you two up. An' if you don't act like assholes to each other, everyt'ing be good. Be kind to each other, boys. You have my blessin'. Now kneel, chers." They obeyed. Jeanne-Marie laid her hands on their heads and knelt down before them. Remy's strong hands closed over their shoulders.

"My dear boys," she whispered. "My dear, good boys…make this last. Hold tight to each other. You been through so much, yes…one day time is gonna lay his hand down between you. You gonna be swept apart—but if you found each other before, you find each other again…if dis is what you want."

Ed leaned his head against Mustang's cheek. "Hell yes," he whispered hoarsely. Roy's throat was so tight with emotion that he could only nod and press a swift kiss against Ed's temple.

"All right, Old Ones. You heard them. Heard and witnessed." Jeanne-Marie turned her face to the skylight overhead.

"Heard and witnessed," Remy echoed, hugging them both before drawing a small silver knife from his pocket. As had been done during his handfasting to Teddy, he made a small cut on their palms. Jeanne-Marie pressed the hands together, mingling their blood. "Blood calls to blood, chers," she whispered. "You are one heart. One blood. One love an' one will. When the day of parting comes, remember this day—and know after the bitter comes the sweet—and your hands will clasp again. D'accord?"

"Hai!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Den by the powers invested in me by the Republic of Ranamuerte and before the Gods and Men, I declare you married. Don't fuck it up, or Jeanne-Marie's gonna come after ya with a big stick, got it?. Now," she glanced swiftly at her watch, "the chopper's gonna land at the tennis court in ten minutes. You wanna consummate, you better get to it, boys. When I knock on the door of de office, you better be zipped up and decent and ready to run or you gonna be achin' pretty badly on the long flight home, non?"

Roy leaned down, swung his lover over one shoulder and ran like hell for Paninya's office.

"Damn…I always wanted to do this. Never understood why until I remembered how it began back in Amestris." A sweep of his arm and a thick pile of ledgers crashed to the floor seconds before he dumped Ed down onto the desktop and hoisted the satin skirts up around his husband's shoulders. "God…this is so fucking hot."

Ed squirmed around uncomfortably, angrily plucking a cell phone out from beneath his left shoulder and throwing it across the room. "What's so hot, Shithead?"

"The dress. Your hair's down…I've got the best of both worlds and I like it." The blue wool uniform trousers hit the tops of Roy's boots, followed by the regulation boxers that had covered the arse of the Mustang mannequin in the State Alchemy Museum in Central.

"You sick fuck!" Ed spluttered. "Marry a man—and you get all hot because he looks like a woman??"

"No…it's the illusion, Ed. What I really want," he ducked his head under the petticoats, "mmmm…has…nothing to do with…god, yes!…women. But a good husband would always pay tribute to his bride's charms…like…this."

"JEEEZUZ CHRIST!!!" Mustang smirked under Ed's skirts and dove down again, tongue first. They didn't have the time for the sort of studied erotic seduction he'd planned for their wedding night, but he couldn't resist a few quick licks before grabbing the lube. And hot as Ed looked and erotic as this was, knowing Jeanne-Marie was likely to kick down the door with those damned size 9 Tony Lama boots was hardly conducive to the proper mood. And since he and Ed had abstained for so damned long, rushing things was going to make it mighty uncomfortable in the end, so to speak.

Pressing forward, he was gratified by Ed's response. The sweet groans, curses and screeches chuffed up his ego…until he recognized that his lover was screaming something about an automatic stapler that was firing over and over into his left butt cheek with each of Mustang's enthusiastic thrusts…

RESEMBOOL WEST, SAN FRANCISCO

Taisa Roy Mustang was halfway down the stairs when Alphonse laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Give them time," Al whispered. "It will be all right."

But there was nothing reassuring about those low, guttural cries coming from behind the closed doors of the traditional Victorian parlor. "Sounds like his soul's being torn apart. Brrrrrr!" This came from Maes, two steps above them on the landing, looking faintly ridiculous in his flannel pajamas with the yellow duckies all over them.

"Or being put back together, non?" Havoc's expression was quietly confident.
Mustang opened his mouth then closed it. He sighed heavily. "I should be there," he argued, but there was no heat in it. "

"You will be," Alphonse's arm slid around his shoulder. "'Till death do you part."

There are things that only a mother can say to her child. The father is there, yes…but it's never quite the same. His first ever awareness is the steady beat of her heart. It is she that performs the greatest alchemy of all, taking a single cell from her mate and transmuting it through blood and love miraculously into a person, into Edward.

Grief and trauma had reawaked memories nearly a hundred years old, till they were as fresh and sharp as the knife's edge of guilt her son had wounded himself with every moment of every day since she closed her eyes for the last time in Amestris.

Edward, Al and Teddy, had been talking quietly together by the pool after the rehearsal dinner when all of a sudden Ed blurted out, "you know everything now, don't you? How can you just walk around so goddamned calm when every time you look at me you know what I did to you and Al?"

Teddy's mouth fell open. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ed's voice became ragged with emotion. "I turned you into a monster. I as good as killed my brother with that stupid transmutation—"

"—now wait a minute, Brother—" Alphonse tried to cut in but his brother wasn't hearing either of them.

"—and in the end I fuckin' killed you. Mustang obviously doesn't get it, or he'd be gone. What did they do in that fuckin' museum? Fuckin' statues! People staring at wax dummies and telling kids about the goddamned Fullmetal Alchemist—Hero of the People?? He's gonna think that's the truth. Not that I was so loudmouthed, cocky kid who forced his brother to commit a taboo, and then ended up dragging all these other people with him. I've got so much goddamn blood on my hands—but what I did to you—Christ!!"

An odd expression came over the face of Tricia Elric. "Daddy? Edo and I are going to talk. Now."

And they had gone into the library alone, and behind closed doors that part of her that had been a mother and wife in Resembool rose to the surface to reach out to the angry, miserable man who had once been her firstborn son, more precious to her than anyone else in the world. Love? I didn't have a clue what love was until Pinako laid you in my armsI can't tell you what it meant to feel that first flutter of movement inside me, knowing that you were really there, knowing that no matter how lonely I was with your father, you would be there for me. I wouldn't even wait for her to bathe you or even cut the cord. I had to hold you, and when you opened your eyes for the first time and looked up at me….everything changed. You healed the hurts, Edward. And because you taught me to love unconditionally, I was able to go on living after all the pain Hohenheim put me through. And I carried it through to this life. If I'm able to love, it's because you gave that gift to me as my son. And when Remy and I are ready to have our son we'll call him Django—but the name on the birth certificate will say "Edouard".

He had cried himself into an exhausted sleep, his head cradled over her heart as she held him, soothing him with a lullaby she didn't know she remembered. If it had happened to little Elycia she'd have dismissed it as a 'meltdown'. This was a full-fledged panic attack. He's scared he's going to let Roy down, she concluded, easing him back onto the sofa, tucking an afghan around him and lovingly sweeping the messy blonde hair back from his sweaty forehead. He needs to have a little more faith in our Taisa.

He met her on the landing as she headed for bed, catching her arm and pulling her into his room. "Is he--?"

Her face lit up as she squeezed his hands tightly in her own. "All he really needs is a good husband to take care of him." She glanced at her watch. "Fifteen to midnight. Bad luck to see him on your wedding day, so scoot!" She gave him a playful shove towards the door.

"Hey. You okay?"

" Yeah."

He looked like hell, eyes swollen from crying, and his voice was ragged. But he smiled and opened his arms wide when Roy knelt down beside the sofa.

Roy opened his mouth to inquire what the hell had gone on behind closed doors but something in Ed's weary smile made him close it. Instead, he sank to his knees and laid his head on his lover's pillow, one arm locked tight around Ed's waist, waiting contentedly for midnight…

"Slight change of plans, Cowboy," Mays grinned as he helped Roy on with his jacket and gave the blue coat tail a slight tug so it hung straight in the back. "Teddy says she's not escorting you down the aisle this time."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She says a mother should walk with her son. She didn't think you'd mind."

She's accepted the past and it's healing the present—and the future. Roy felt a warm wave of affection towards Teddy, pleased that the awakening memories of Amestris had only deepened the bonds between Edward , Alphonse and Tricia. "It's only right that the three of them come in together. I guess I'm stuck with you, Hughes, since Uncle Simon says he's happy to stay in his wheelchair."

Hughes could hardly contain his grin. "Well…I did manage to hunt up two very beautiful women who say they'd be honored to walk you to your wedding." He darted to the door and flung it open with a bow. Two fragile, gray haired women in traditional kimonos stepped softly in, beaming with delight.

"Auntie Reiko? Auntie Midori??" To his greater surprise, they bowed in turn to a white haired man in a somber black hakima, one arm holding Izumi, blissfully sucking her thumb. It could only be—

"UNCLE TETSUYA????"

"A very wise lady from Louisiana suggested that I might want to be here." He did not smile, but his eyes were kind, and one shriveled finger idly stroked his grand-niece's silken cheek. It was the first time in his life that he and Hikari's only son had met. "She suggested to me that if I didn't accept you, your husband and this lovely child of yours, she would use a wide varieties of voodoo to haunt me through the worst hells my ancestors ever dreamt of."

Roy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And you believe Jeanne-Marie?"

Miyazaki Tetsuya, his mother's surviving brother who had disowned young Taisa before his birth, pushed up the sleeve of his black kimono, revealing a half-healed wound, black and ugly. "I did after the spider bite…"

The Shinto ceremony was brief—a formality, really, as far as Roy was concerned. The real wedding occurred on a snowy rooftop in Tokyo the night his daughter had been born. Jeanne-Marie had affirmed and blessed it in Ranamuerte, binding them by shed blood and promising them that even Time would not part them for long. This was to honor his mother's beliefs—and to get that all-important California marriage certificate. Not that it would mean anything in Japan…but they would not stay in the Land of the Rising Sun forever. Sooner or later, they would have to move on. But for now…Tokyo was home. Al and Ai-san would be waiting to welcome them, and so would a whole clan of Miyazakis who had waited a lifetime to meet Hikari's son.

"Watakushi wa kono josei to kekkonshi,fufu to narou to shite imasu. Watakushi wa kenkouna tokimo…"

"I marry this man. No matter what the health situation is, I will love him…"

"Soudenai tokimo
Kono hito o aishi,kono hito o uyamai,kono hito o nagusame,kono hito o tasuke…"

"…respect him. Console him. Help him…"

Sansankudo. Three cups of sake, shared three times as a pledge of bonding, forever.

"Watakushi no inochi no sessou o mamoru koto o chikai masu.."

"…until my death, protecting fidelity, this I do swear…Shithead." Ed grinned wickedly at his husband.

"Bean," Roy purred back.

"Bastard—"

"Fullmetal Asshole."

"Colonel Sarcasm."

"That's General to you, Shrimp—"

"Quit smirking and kiss me, you son of a bitch—"

MOTU OME ISLAND, BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA

"Edward? Oh…oh my god…what have you done??"

Ed had sent him away after they arrived. "I need some time to prepare for this."

"What—for me fucking you senseless after eight hours on a cramped plane with a drunken Aussie football team and twenty-seven nuns from Des Moines? Damn it…." Roy slammed the lid on his suitcase in frustration, spinning around and shoving Ed roughly to the bed. "Feel that?" he growled, shoving Ed's hand in the vicinity of his crotch. "Even Al's cat couldn't scratch it. Don't make me divorce you for mental…hey…what…Ed??" Something was seriously wrong. Ed wasn't playing. "Hey, asshole…talk to me." He leaned down until they were nose to nose. "Aw…you're really pissed this time. Hey…I'm sorry. I just…I just wanted you so goddamn much…"

"I know. I know." Cool metal fingers toyed briefly with his short dark hair. "There's…something I want to give you. I have to give you. But it's going to take me about an hour. Could you—I dunno—go for a swim or something? I'll turn on the light in the window when I'm ready. Okay?"

From the window he could see his husband skinning off his jeans and plunging naked in the surf, cursing Ed loudly in several languages, including Remy's Cajun patois. "You'd better hope to hell it doesn't freeze off!" Mustang was gesturing at his erection, saluting proudly in spite of the chilly water.
His smile evaporated as he unlocked the small kit Al had packed for him…

He'd hissed and bitten down on the pillow and nearly wept with frustration before it was all done…then he panicked. The smell. Jeeze. What am I going to do…? Thoughtfully, Al had packed witch hazel pads, the same kind people used for hemorroids. Burned less than alcohol wipes, although nothing burned so horribly like Pinako's cautery. Good thing you passed out, Ed. We have to do it, otherwise you'll rot under there and then you'll die of blood poisoning.He could still rot, even now. The odor was a warning. A smell that could become a stench that could become death if he wasn't very faithful about this.

"There's nothing you could buy Taisa that he can't get on his own, except the thing he needs most—the thing you have to give him."

"What's that, Mom?"

"Truth, my darling. Give him the truth."

He flipped on the light in the window just before the sun set and picked up his tools one more time…

"WHAT…what have you done?"

Edward Elric was naked—truly naked—for the first time in all the years they had lived and loved and fought and fucked and laughed together.

His shirt and trousers were neatly folded beside the bed. Resting beside them, a metal arm, a leg, back and chest plates and the socket he had unbolted from the stump of his leg.

He held onto the bed post for balance as he rose. "I can't hold you," he whispered hoarsely. "I can't even crawl to you." There were wires poking out of the socket implanted where his shoulder ought to be, more of the same dangling from his thigh. The flesh—if it could be called flesh—underneath his brace plating was an angry blackish red, thick and pearly and gave off a slightly unpleasant odor, like a foot kept too long in a leather shoe. The scar tissue was laced with more wires, crisscrossing and crawling under the livid tissue like brightly colored worms. "Damn you, Roy—don't you get it?? I can't hold you! This is the truth. This is all I am."

Two steps and Roy was beside him. He gently pried the sweaty fingers from the bed post and guided them around his own waist. He let his own right arm fall to his side, hooking his left arm around Ed's shoulder shifting his weight until he balanced on his own left leg. Ed's balance trembled slightly. "All we have to do," Roy told him softly, "when you think you're going to fall—we're going to fall…is hold on a little longer…a little tighter…and we'll be okay."

"You mean that, Mustang?"

"Have I ever lied to you, Fullmetal?"

"Since the day we met at Pinako's house, you son of a bitch, and you know it."

The once and future Flame Alchemist turned them gently and eased back upon the bed, smiling up at the infuriating little man who was worth waiting a lifetime for. "All right, bean boy….you have a lifetime to prove me wrong….starting now…"

Ed was frantic, gnawing ravenously on Roy's arched throat, growling with frustration between breaths. He clamped his thighs around Roy's hips but couldn't maneuver to do more than meet cock to cock in the odd lucky stroke.

"Fuck me…now…" Roy's command was a ragged gasp of hunger.

"I—I can't," Ed shouted, jerking his head back and cursing, clumsily trying to pull away, but the one arm held him fast. "Goddam you! It's not possible!"

"Nothing is impossible, Ed!" Roy shouted back, "I told you. Just hold on tighter…"

With the greatest of care, Roy gripped his lover with one arm and turned slowly over until his face was in the pillows and Ed was clinging to his back, panting and shaking. "Now what?"

Slowly and deliberately , Roy rose up on his knees, offering himself, making certain that his hips weren't too high and that Ed had his balance on both knee and stump. A cry of pure delight rewarded Edward as the blonde's tongue flicked tenderly against his husband's opening, the tight ring of muscle pulsing as the soft licks became thrusts. "So good…god…so…good…" Roy was arching into that invasive tongue that circled and plunged with a rhythm that made his cock twitch and drip at the though of what he hoped would follow.

Growing confident, Ed let go of his death grip on Roy's waist and leaned in, his weight on his whole leg. His fingers dipped down to his own cock, slicking them with his own precum and spit before letting them tease and play in the warm crevice between Roy's taut cheeks. Roy purred his approval. "Like that, do you?" Roy could hear the cockiness returning and was glad Ed couldn't see the look of triumph on his face. One fingertip eased inside the tighness, circling and massaging gently, coaxing it to relax. Another delicious plunge of the tongue and then that questing digit slid right up to the knuckle. "Know what you feel like?" Ed's voice was hot and low. "Like tight, hot silk…like heaven…mmm…was that good…? That's it…ride it, move that beautiful ass for me."

Fingers stroking, coaxing, punctuated by sweet stabs of tongue. "Shit, I'm so wet for you." Fingers and tongue retreated. The soft, moist sound of a hand stroking an eager cock. A soft grunt of concentration…an intake of breath…and he was balls deep and grinning. "Got you where I want you, Shithead…nothing like riding a wild Mustang" A hand slapped him sharply across one buttock. "Now," his love commanded him, "move!"

And move he did, not surprised at all by the strength of Ed's thrusts. Roy dropped his head to the pillow and groaned, reveling in his surrender as much as the joy of Ed's returning confidence—no, over confidence. His hand slid down between his own sweating thighs. Ed slapped it away. "Ah-ah-ah…you're gonna come just from this—" lightning sparked and shimmered behind Roy's closed eyes as another stroke slammed into his sweetest spot—"from just my cock inside you…filling you up…yeah, that's it…grind down hard on it…just like that…goddamn, your ass is so fuckin' hot…ohhh…godfuckyeah…move it around like…shit…ohhhshit…I'm…gonna…TAISAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

The wild, guttural cries of delight couldn't have been torn from the throat of the ever-so-elegant-and unflappable General Roy Mustang, who surely would never have submitted to that chibi-sized, sawed off, little runt who was slapping his ass, biting his back and cackling with triumph as he slammed in to the hilt and pulsed what felt like a river of heat inside him. Well, he chuckled inwardly as Ed pulled out, rolled over and ordered him on his back for a little quid pro quo, at least I've got two weeks to get even with him…

A sharp bite on his lower lip stung, but before he could say what the fuck his mouth was being invaded as a prelude to the next event…

…if the little prick doesn't fuck me to death tonight….

KASHMIR-XINJIANG, NEAR THE CHINESE BORDER OF TIBET

"I'd kill for a pizza." Tossing a well-sucked wing bone into the fire, the Great Wise Man of Xinjiang burped and folded his arms behind his head. "Think Domino's delivers here?"

Josh Tringham shivered and glared miserably at his companion. For a so-called holy man of 'Earth", the only prayer he'd hear this faker Yao chant, over and over, was oh GOD I'm starving!"What the hell is Domino's?" he asked sullenly, grimacing as his stomach gave a gurgle of warning. Tsampa with bitter tea, burnt flour and rancid yak butter was going through his digestive tract the way Roy Mustang went through an Ishballan village. "Is it like Gluttony's?"

One dark eye sparkled under a tumble of glossy black hair. "Funny you should mention Gluttony…."

The End…of THIS tale--

The Further Adventures of the 20th Century Elrics

Will be recounted in "You And Me Of The 10,000 Wars"—Coming FALL 2009