The Gift

11

Revenge

November 22nd – Wednesday

Ed looked up from where he was sitting at the table as Mustang walked into the room. The man was damp from a shower and…

"What happened to you?" he asked. The colonel's face and the exposed part of his arms were red as if Mustang had been scratching at his skin.

"Nothing," he murmured as he pulled a chair out and sat down, then scratched absently at his cheek.

At that moment, Winry entered the room with a stack of pancakes. When she saw the dark hared man, she smirked and said, "Sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you," he answered vaguely.

Pinako came into the room from the way Roy had and took a seat at the table. She took one look at the colonel, then gave the blond girl a flat stare. "Is that why you wanted to buy that itching powder the other day…"

Winry's eyes widened in exaggerated surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said in feigned innocence before spearing two of the pancakes and putting them on Mustang's plate. "Here, have some breakfast," she said a bit too sweetly and Ed's eyebrows knitted together in confusion at her obviously fake cheerfulness.

Ed watched her put some pancakes on his plate, then on Pinako's before sitting down and putting a couple on her plate. He waited until Mustang was done with the jam before spooning some on his breakfast. He passed it across the table and was about to take a bite when the colonel began coughing and hacking.

The dark haired man grabbed Ed's orange juice, given that he hadn't poured any for himself yet, and gulped it down while blinking tears from his eyes.

"You okay…?" Ed asked hesitantly.

Instead of saying anything, Mustang just nodded and poured himself, and Ed, some juice. This time he picked up his own glass and drank the contents a bit more slowly.

"What's the matter?" Winry asked as she put jam on her pancakes. "Can't the great Flame Alchemist take a bit of heat?"

At this, Ed pinched off a piece of one of Mustang's pancakes and sniffed it.

Cayenne Pepper…

A lot of it…

"Actually, I was just so amazed by your cooking that I couldn't contain myself," Mustang replied in a choking voice before turning to Al and saying, "Will you pass me the jam?"

Al nodded silently and took the jam from where Winry had put it and passed it across the table. The dark haired man took it and slathered his pancakes with close to half the jar.

Ed's eyes flicked to his friend and saw that she was scowling unhappily at the colonel. The younger alchemist turned his head back to Mustang just as the man was taking another, smaller, bite.

He wanted to tell the colonel that he didn't need to finish them; that he could just take new ones from the stack, but he didn't. Mustang was determined to eat as much of the peppered pancakes as he could…

Forks scraped plates as people began eating their breakfast in silence. It was several minutes before Pinako said, "It looks like we might get rain today or tomorrow...maybe even snow. We're going to need to chop the rest of the firewood before that."

The old woman was looking from Ed and Al and the teen sighed. Usually it was Winry's job to cut the firewood, because Pinako was just too small to use the big ax, but since he and Al were there...

"I can do that for you."

Ed turned his head in surprise as the colonel put his fork down and stood up.

"It's okay, sir. Brother and I can do it," Al said quickly and stood up.

"No, it's fine, really. I think I'm finished anyway." This was said with an unhappy glance down at the half eaten pancakes. "Besides, it's been a long time since I've had to chop firewood.(1)

When the colonel picked up his dishes and headed into the kitchen, Al said, "I can help too."

"You don't have to," Mustang said, but Al shook his head.

"I need to talk to you anyway. Remember?"

Ed's forehead crinkled as he watched this exchange. What could Al possibly want to talk to Mustang about, but then he remembered interrupting something in the colonel's office a couple of weeks back.

Could whatever they'd been talking about then be what Al was referring to?

For a moment, Mustang only stared at Al, then he nodded.

When the two were gone, Pinako asked him about how things were going in Central, and what kind of mischief they'd been up to. Ed, on his part, gave her all the light details about nothing in particular.

After all, he didn't want her and Winry to know how much danger he and Al were in sometimes. He didn't want them to worry, especially Winry. Ed knew that she worried a lot for them even when she tried to cover it up.

As the small talk wrapped up, Pinako said, "Now tell me about this relationship you have with that man."

Ed sighed.

Of course he should have expected the conversation would come to that…

"I don't know what you want to know," he said and looked down at his plate.

"I'm no fool, Edward. I know relationships between officers in the military are generally not okay."

Ed lifted his fork and pointed it at Pinako. "Generally. I mean...there are cases that have been approved by the Fuhrer..."

The old woman frowned. "Oh? And is yours one of those cases?"

The young alchemist shifted in his chair. "Well...no. It's not... I've heard it's a real pain to get the Fuhrer to sign off on it. I really don't know much about it, but that's just what I've heard..."

"I see. So, why him? I can't really say that I'm very happy about this. Not just because he was the one who killed one of my son and daughter-in-law, but also because he is quite a bit older than you. I wonder if you're being taken advantage of." She paused, then said, "He's already caused a lot of suffering in this family; I don't want to see anymore."

Ed picked up his glass and took a drink. What could he say to that? It's not like Roy wanted to cause them any pain...

Before he could reply, Pinako stood and said, "Well, I'm finished here. Why don't you and Winry take care of the dishes."

Ed scowled and said, "I'm going outside to help chop wood. Maybe you women should do the dishes. That's your job right?"

Ed picked up the last plate and dried it before putting it in the cupboard. It wasn't fair that he'd been forced into doing the dishes by himself… He'd much rather be outside chopping wood.

Yep.

Chopping wood was a man's job, not like washing dishes.

Of course that had been the exact line of thought that had gotten him the job in the first place...

The teen laid the dish towel over the oven handle so it could dry and made his way toward the back door. After all that womanly work, Ed wanted to do something more physical. Perhaps there would be some wood left.

Ed smirked at the mental image of Mustang relaxing and telling Al what pieces to chop, and how he should chop them... If that were the case then there would definitely be some work left for him to do.

The blond opened the back door and shivered slightly at the burst of cold air that hit him. He looked up at the sky and saw that Pinako was right about the weather. Dark clouds hung low and the air was heavy with moisture.

Ed stepped out on the porch and shut the door behind him before he glanced over to where the wood pile was. What he saw made him grin and he leaned against the side of the house to watch.

Unlike his mental image, Mustang was working alongside Al as they chopped the firewood, but that wasn't what had caught Ed's interest. The colonel had taken off his shirt and was now only clothed in a pair of blue jeans. The man's exposed skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and Ed let his eyes travel over every inch of the other alchemist's body. Mustang was well built, and he worked out regularly enough that he was toned and fit, but it was obvious that all those hours at a desk were taking its toll on the man's body.

Ed watched as Al stood up straight and looked at Mustang. The colonel, in turn, looked up and nodded a couple of times before shaking his head and saying something. The only indication that Al was saying something was the fact that he was gesturing with his hands. The colonel seemed pretty unhappy with whatever Al was saying, and folded his arms defensively before saying something.

Curious now, Ed pushed himself away from the building and started over to them, but they cut off their conversation when they saw him approach.

"Hey," he called when he was close enough. "Want some help?"

Mustang grinned and said, "Yeah, that would be great, but we don't have an ax small enough for you."

Ed sighed and glanced out the window. A little after noon, the rain began to fall. First it was a slight drizzle, but it soon became a heavy downpour and it had stayed that way ever since. The weather was definitely not something he missed about living in Rizembool. Here the weather could be nice one moment, then change to something unpleasant the next. Not only that, but the winters were cold. Normally by now, Rizembool already had snow, and he wouldn't be surprised if it snowed before they left.

Sighing again, Ed looked up at the ceiling where the noise from the shower blended in with the rain.

What a mess...

This whole day had just been one thing right after another. Winry definitely had it out for Roy, but despite all the cruel and mean 'jokes' she played on him, the man never once complained and stayed polite and civil.

None of it was fair.

It wasn't fair that Winry was taking out her anger on the colonel.

It wasn't fair that he had killed her parents.

It wasn't fair that Mustang had been put in that position in the first place.

It wasn't fair that the people of Ishbal had the army sent out to destroy them...

No...none of it was fair, but it was what was.

The sound of a door opening met his ears and Ed looked up to see Winry with a box of tools leaving the furnace room. She had a pleased look on her face as she crossed the room to where the stairs were.

"What's going on?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing, I just needed to do a bit of work on the water heater. Nothing major." This was said with a sickly-sweet smile.

Ed stared at her for a moment before saying slowly, "You know...Roy is taking a shower..."

Her eyes widened slightly and she said, "Oh? Is he? Hmmmm...well don't worry, the water won't be that cold." Her false concern was marred by a small snicker.

Of course she'd known that Roy was in the shower...If it wasn't for her dumping...well, nothing that could be done about that now...

The teen watched his friend as she ascended the stairs, then pushed himself out of the chair. Dinner would be done soon, and it would be to his credit if he offered to set the table rather than have Pinako tell him to do it.

Roy pulled on the loose black pants, then checked himself in the mirror. After all the things that girl had done to him today, Roy thought that his hair must have turned gray for sure, but it was still completely black.

He reached down and picked up his towel and dirty clothes. His shower had been shorter than he'd originally planned given the sudden change in water temperature. The colonel had no doubt that Winry had something to do with that too.

Perhaps it was unfair to suspect her without any proof, but given everything she'd done to him today...

Sighing, Roy opened the door and walked out into the hallway. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he quickly looked down. Shifting his feet, Roy tried to find a spot on the floor that wasn't covered in screws, nuts and bolts.

Gritting his teeth, Roy lifted one of his feet and scooted some of the metal pieces away with one foot before doing the same with the other.

Trying to breathe slowly, Roy closed his eyes and counted to ten.

He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

Ed watched Roy take a bite of his dinner and thought that at least for this meal, the colonel didn't have to worry about something being wrong with his food. Even if Pinako didn't like him, which Ed was suspecting was the case, she wouldn't be so mean as to do something strange to the food.

He listened idly as Al and Winry debated over some small issue concerning the history of automail as he took another bite of his own food. It had been almost an hour since the last 'incident' and he was just waiting for Winry to do something else.

Supposedly she'd accidentally spilled the nuts, bolts and screws on the floor and was 'just about to clean them up', and 'oh how sad it was that the poor colonel stepped on them before she could get them all picked up.'

Ed rolled his eyes at the thought.

Yeah right...

"Edward," Pinako said, bringing him out of his thoughts. When he looked at her she continued. "You remember where John Harris's farm is right?"

He nodded.

"Well, I'm having him slaughter a turkey for us and I thought you and Alphonse could go pick it up tomorrow morning."

He nodded, and said, "Sure. No problem."

She grinned and said, "I thought about just buying a live bird like last year, cheaper and all that, but I thought that perhaps you kids wouldn't be up to all that dirty work this year."

Ed blanched and nodded. He didn't like killing things, even when it was for food. He could if he needed to, thanks to Izumi's 'survival training' on the island, but...

"You should have just gotten a live bird," Winry spoke up.

"Oh?" Pinako said with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right." Winry turned her gaze to the colonel and glared hatefully at him. "We could have him take care of the bird. After all, he's good at slaughtering things."

Ed's eyes widened in shock at the cruel statement and at how coldly she had said it. There was silence around the table for a long time and he let his gaze turn to where Roy was sitting. The colonel had gone completely white and his eyes had a pain-filled look in them.

Ed wanted to do something, say something, that could possibly help, but he couldn't think of anything.

"I think... I'm going to go take a walk..." Mustang whispered, getting up from the table. Ed's eyes followed the man until he was out of the room, and remained fixed on the spot he'd seen him last until he heard the front door open and close.

With the sound of the closing door, Ed's shock broke into fury. Turning around, he stared hard at Winry and growled, "How could you say something like that? That was really cold!"

She looked at him, her eyes filled with anger and hurt. "It's true! It's all his fault they're gone! I hate him!" Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked down, away from his gaze.

Ed passed a hand over his eyes and sighed.

This was so hard.

Winry was hurting...

Roy was hurting...

He desperately wanted to make things better, but he didn't know how he could help.

"Winry..." he began and she looked up at him, one tear trickling slowly down her cheek. "Remember when we were kids and me and Al made you go and take some of the cookies your mom had baked, even though you didn't want to? Remember how you got caught and your mom got mad at you and you got in trouble?"

She nodded with a confused look on her face.

"Well...that's kind of what happened...I mean...it's not the same but...Roy didn't want to kill them, but the military made him. If he didn't do it, then someone else would have, and then he probably would have gotten into trouble for disobeying orders..."

He sighed. "I don't know much about it. He's only talked about it once to me and even then it wasn't much, but...I know he feels really bad about it. He blames himself too, but it's not his fault..."

At that she stood up quickly and slammed her hands on the table. "Shut up, Ed! How can you defend a murder like him!"

At that, Ed stood up too and shouted, "You're not listening to anything I'm saying!"

"Yes I am! You're saying that it isn't his fault, but how can it not be? He's the one who did it!"

"Winry, you..." he began but never got a chance to finish.

"If it isn't his fault, then whose? Whose fault, Ed? Tell me that!" she wailed desperately, then ran out of the room.

Sitting by the fire in the rocking chair, Pinako took a puff on her pipe and gazed at the pieces of automail that lay on the work bench across the room. Right now it was peaceful. The room was dim and the glow of the fire in the fireplace crackled and popped in a soothing way.

Winry was still in her room. She hadn't come out since dinner. She'd had the two boys do the dishes and after they had finished, they too had gone up to their room.

For now it was quite, but she knew it wouldn't last.

Suddenly the front door opened and a tall figure let himself into the house. He started heading toward the stairs, but stopped when Pinako said, "It's a cold, wet night."

He turned his head toward her and nodded silently.

"Have a seat," she said and pointed to the other rocking chair that was across from her.

She heard him sigh, but he changed his direction and headed to the chair. After he sat down, Pinako said, "Looks like you got a bit wet."

That was an understatement. The man was drenched and dripping all over the floor. But the floor would dry. It wasn't that big of a deal.

He looked silently at the fire and for a while neither of them spoke, then Pinako said, "When I learned it was you who had killed my son and daughter-in-law, I was angry at you as well. I had previously been angry with the military for letting them get killed, but when Winry told me that they had been killed by the military and not by the enemy..."

She shook her head. "But I was able to understand quickly that you were most likely just a pawn in the bigger scheme of things. I was able to not hate you because of that. Winry though...she's young. She has a lot of pain inside of her and she wants someone to blame. It's easier when there's someone to blame."

The colonel looked at her and nodded.

"I have to admit that I wasn't too happy about you coming here, and even less happy when I realized Winry had...plans...for your arrival. I expected yelling and angry words, but for the most part that hasn't happened. You've kept calm and been respectful. I appreciate it."

He nodded again.

Pinako took a puff on her pipe and said, "Ed told me that you want to become the Fuhrer to help make up for what happened in the war. You want to make things better."

Another nod.

"He also told me you have a bad habit of procrastination."

In the firelight she saw his lips pull up into a small smile before he nodded again.

"Well...I don't think that's a good habit. It seems you've done alright with that type of a habit, but you know that sometimes procrastinating too long can be very counter productive." She looked up at where Edward and Alphonse's room was.

He looked up too, then sighed. "I know..."

She shook her head and muttered, "Men..." before standing up and dumping out the ashes from her pipe in the fire. "Well, I'm getting old and I need my sleep." She started toward the stairs, then stopped. "Just be sure you don't wait to long, young man," she said, and she was pleased when he looked up again to where Edward and Alphonse's room was. He knew she didn't mean about becoming Fuhrer.

He looked back down at her then said in amusement, "I'm hardly young..."

"To me, you're still a child. Just remember what I said."

He smiled wryly and said softly, "I will."

1 – I'm sure some of you have noticed, but I just love the idea of farmboy!Roy. haha

Next Updates: 23rdand 24thI swear I will have more dates for you when I post on the 24th. Right now I'm just scrambling to get these next couple of chapters written. With school I just haven't had much time. :(

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