Episode 8 POV Change- Chapter 2

By the time Hughes had begun pulling in to the lot, Roy was almost bouncing in his anxiousness to get in there and see what was taking Fullmetal so damn long. As soon as the car stopped he had the door open and was stepping out to survey the outside of the building. It was unremarkable in every way, except that it gave off an air of extreme tension.

Al was out of the car just as quickly, looking as if he wanted nothing more than to just run in there and save his brother and friend immediately, but he had agreed to follow through with the operation with caution. Who knew what the killer's motives were? Who knew what he would do? The plan wasn't very complex, just to send in a small group to survey the situation quickly and then they would come back any further course of action would be decided by Roy, Hughes and Hawkeye. Whether violence, diplomacy or stealth was required would depend on the first group's report.

The group of soldiers chosen to go in first double checked their guns, and then congregated at the entrance to the building with the higher commanding officers and Alphonse. "Remember, the goal is to go in there and get all the information you can quickly, if something goes wrong… Just, stay on your toes," Hughes ordered in a low voice. The soldiers saluted, and then went in.

Roy was on the verge of pacing while they waited just inside the building, he hated to just sit back and do nothing.

"No!" a cry just faintly echoed out from within the building and it set all four of them bristling.

"That was Brother!" Alphonse cried out worriedly, only to be shushed by Hawkeye's hand on his arm.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know, don't worry Alphonse, I'm sure it'll be-" Roy trailed off at the glow of a transmutation that they could barely see from their place at the entrance and one of the soldiers jogging back to meet them. "Report!" Roy snapped and then quieted as Hughes shot him a look that told him to calm down.

"Yes sir! Elric was tied to a chair and appears to be missing his right arm, while there is a girl gagged and bound to a meat hook. However after the killer exchanged a few words with Elric, he managed to activate a transmutation to get rid of his bindings; he's fighting the killer now. The other soldiers are still there ready to step in at your command, sir!"

Hughes nodded and thought for a moment, "Go in there and wait a moment, maybe Ed can handle it, if the situation starts looking bad then we need to intervene, but we don't want to get in the way. Take Alphonse with you, he could be of some help," he added as he saw that Al was about to run in there whether he was allowed to or not.

"Well, I should go to, don't you think? I am his commanding officer," Roy pointed out in an attempted to hide the worry that was clawing at his gut.

"That's why you're here in the first place, I'm sure the soldiers can handle this though…" Hughes added on to his statement before Roy could interject again, "but, I suppose, that it wouldn't hurt if you went in as back-up in case things go terribly wrong." Roy just nodded and turned to the soldier who was already off to show him and Alphonse the way.

As they got further out of ear shot, Roy could barely hear as Hughes grumbled out a complaint to Hawkeye, which sounded a lot like, "Geez, I am such a pushover!"

It only took a few seconds to get to where the other soldiers were waiting; they were all grouped up next to the door into the giant freezer, the opening being concealed with a plastic strip door. The soldier relayed orders to the others while Roy and Alphonse pushed some of the strips out of their way to peek into the next room. They couldn't see anyone, but Fullmetal's trademark fighting noises were heard… At least, that's what they had sounded like at first, but upon closer listen they were actually just gasps and shouts of terror.

"What the hell?" Roy muttered attempting to see past all the hanging pigs, but it was to no avail, they were deeper in, "How do you guys know anything from sitting back here? You can't see a single thing!" he turned to the soldiers.

"We retreated back here when they started running through the place, since we don't have orders to engage yet," one replied simply. Roy just turned back to looking and was rewarded with a quick flash of what looked like Fullmetal running from some man; the killer, he presumed.

"Obviously, I was wrong earlier, Fullmetal can't handle this one," he stated in a faux exasperated tone, pushing through the strip door and getting ready to jump in and save his subordinate from whatever it was he was having trouble with.

Just before he could push through the first set of pigs hanging from the ceiling, he froze as a blood curdling scream suddenly rang throughout the whole building, it would be safe to bet that even Hughes had heard it. "Brother!" Al called running forward in a panic.

"Wait Alphonse! Don't run in there half-cocked, stay calm and let's get your brother," Roy attempted to calm him, while fighting against his instinct to do exactly as Al was going to. "Come on!" he ordered the three soldiers who were unsure if they were supposed to help or not, but at Roy's okay they pulled out their guns and rushed in.

The clang of metal on metal became very clear soon enough, along with laughter and Edward's shrieks of pain and fear. As they neared in on the fight, Roy took in the scene with widened eyes. The entire set up was just out of some cliché crime novel. There was Edward, forced to the ground with his automail arm blade raised in defense as the kidnapper, Barry, swung at him with a meat cleaver, laughing hysterically. Then the blonde girl, Winry, standing on a stool way in the back staring at the other two, while screaming around her gag, bound to a meat hook, as described.

Sparks flew as each hit from the cleaver became more forceful, and the occasional blood splatter each time Barry managed to get a hit. The girl looked up and caught sight of them and in her surprise she toppled off of her stool, backwards and with her momentum ended up getting a line of meat hooks and, in turn, hanging pigs moving along the pulley system. It just so happened that Barry was standing right in the way and was knocked down on top of Edward with a yelp of surprise as a pig rammed him in the back.

Edward shouted out in shock and the two pushed away from each other and just as Barry raised his knife for a swing, Ed brought his blade up and out, knocking the cleaver from Barry's hands. The man gasped and reached for the knife before turning back to Edward, who pulled his blade back for an attack.

Is he going to kill him?! Roy thought in alarm, wishing that it wasn't true; Edward was too young to take a life, even if he was in the military, but as he saw the blond's eyes wide and brimming with tears, he knew that it was possible. The desperation was driving the boy to drastic measures and Roy knew that if it weren't for Al's quick grab for his arm just as he gave a scream of determination and swung, that Barry would not be alive for an arrest.

As it was, Edward's adrenaline running high, he still turned with a panicked gasp and slashed at his own brother's chest, but this action seemed to signal the end of the frightening experience. Roy about deflated with relief as the soldiers moved in, releasing Winry from her chains while the other one pointed his gun at Barry who just grinned and shrugged, which had Roy close to setting him on fire.

"They're in here!" the soldier shouted over his shoulder which prompted Roy to turn and see Hughes and Hawkeye running towards them. It was after the movement stilled that Roy realized with frustration that he really didn't do anything to help, he had just been there, possibly in the way… Useless… Man, did he hate that word, especially when it was describing himself.

A sniffle cut through his thoughts though and he looked at the two brothers, he had missed whatever it was Al had said, but he was tuning in just in time to feel his heart clench in pity.

"Al…" another tear fell. "Brother, does that hurt?" Al asked softly, obviously referring to Edward's left arm that had been sliced repeatedly. Roy fought the urge to interject, but the brother's needed a moment to themselves, he turned to Hughes to give them some semblance of privacy, but he still heard every word.

"I thought I was going to be killed. I really thought that I might die… I was scared. Terribly… Terribly scared…" Edward managed to choke out before a few more stifled sobs cut him off. Hughes was looking over Roy's shoulder with a look of pity, but then he turned to one of the other soldiers that had followed him in.

"Go get some blankets," he ordered quietly, "Come on Roy, grab your subordinate, let's get out of this building," without looking at him, he began walking towards the exit.

Roy heaved a sigh and turned to Hawkeye, gesturing to Winry in a sign that she should go get her while he tended to Edward. She nodded and went to the girl, giving her a soft reassuring smile and gently guided her away from where she was staring at Ed and Al, she reluctantly began to follow.

He came up next to Al and offered a hand to Edward who barely spared him a glance as he fought to keep his last sobs choked down. "Come on Fullmetal, it's been a long day, huh? Let's go get your injuries checked out," he suggested gently, unsure if his usually bratty subordinate would even accept his help, but after only a moment of hesitation, Edward transmuted his blade away and reached up to take his hand with his left arm, to which Roy flinched. Those cuts had to sting.

Roy pulled him to his feet and put his hand on his back, between his shoulder blades and gave him an encouraging nudge to get him walking, a soldier was already running towards them with a folded blanket in hand that Alphonse moved forward to grab. Together, Roy and Al got the blanket draped over Edward's shoulders, but he refused to look up from the ground as they walked and Al tried to talk to him.

They got outside and Roy steered the two brothers towards the steps of the building next door and set them down there while he went back to see if he was "needed for anything," but it was really just his cover up to give Ed and Al a bit of time to themselves, they didn't need him to be breathing down their necks just because of this one incident, Fullmetal wouldn't let him live it down if he started acting like a mother-hen now.

Winry, with a blanket clutched tightly around herself, she had tears in her eyes, much like Fullmetal did, and she was standing with Hawkeye, who had her hands supportively resting on her shoulders. "Is he okay?" Winry asked as soon as he got close enough.

"Fullmetal's alright, he's just a bit shaken up, as I'm sure you are," Roy responded reassuringly, without pause, but Winry just nodded hesitantly staring in the brother's direction. He turned to see what had her looking distressed and frowned deeply again, he'd expected Fullmetal to only take a moment to collect himself and then he'd be just fine, but his shoulders began shaking again and it looked as though, he was not even close to calming down. But, of course, he was still only a kid and it was easy to forget that sometimes.

Roy was startled from his thoughts as Fullmetal suddenly yelled out loud enough for them to hear: "We're only human!" and then he hid his face back in his hands and it looked as though his crying had begun again renewed. He sighed and looked at Winry who had begun to cry again herself and ran a hand through his hair.

"So is the arrest taken care of?" Roy asked just as Hughes had made his way over to him.

"Yep, all taken care of, he won't be hurting anyone again," he added more as an afterthought as he noticed Winry standing nearby, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"Am I still needed here? I think I should be getting back to the office soon. You can send me the paperwork later tonight, or tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's fine," Hughes agreed, realizing Roy's ulterior motive, which was just to get Fullmetal away from all the eyes on him while he experienced one of his weaker moments, it was a nice gesture on Roy's part.

"Good, I'll see you soon, thanks for helping my subordinate out, I'll make sure he tells you himself later,"

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'm just glad we got here before anything too bad happened," Hughes grinned, but said the last part in a very lower tone. Whether he was talking about Fullmetal getting hurt, or the fact that he almost killed someone, it didn't matter, the point was that nothing like that happened and now everyone was safe.

"Alright, I'll go get Fullmetal and then we'll get out of your way," he said lightly, looking up to see that Hawkeye was a step ahead of him and was ushering Winry inside of the car. Roy headed over to Fullmetal and his brother and waved his hand towards the car at Al, who got the message and helped his brother to his feet.

"Careful Brother," Al warned as Fullmetal almost stumbled on his still shaking legs, I guess he was more frightened by this than I first thought, Roy took a step forward and helped keep the boy steady as they cleared the rest of the distance to the car.

When he was done helping Al get his brother into the vehicle he got in the driver's seat and started the car up. Hawkeye was in the passenger seat and Winry was in the front, in the middle, while Fullmetal and Al took up the spaces in the back.

"Let's get back to the office, I'm sure the others are slacking off in their work now that Hawkeye and I aren't there," he joked, trying to lighten everyone's mood, to which he saw Winry give a small, sad attempt at a smile and Hawkeye's mouth barely twitch, before she resumed her usual stoic expression and Fullmetal and Al didn't even give an indication that they'd heard. He'd so badly wanted some smart ass comment, but it seemed that, that would be asking for too much right now.

It looked as though it would take a bit of time before Fullmetal would open back up, maybe Roy would even have a quick talk with him when they got back.

AN: Alright, it's a bit longer this time. Also I only skimmed through this chapter and fixed some of the more obvious mistakes (typos and such,) and I've decided that I'll go in and edit this story when I'm done, which should be next chapter. I hope. I just felt like that was an okay place to cut off, haha! Sorry if it's a bit choppy or wordy, but like I said, I'll get that fixed later.

Thanks to all who reviewed, faved and followed!

Not so human (Guest): Thank you for your support, I decided that you were right and while I was doing light edits last chapter I went ahead and changed my Author's Note too. Hope I updated at least in a semi-fast way for you!

Speaking of edits; Someone pointed out to me that I had Roy's rank wrong in the last chapter and I fixed that too, so hopefully I don't forget that he's a Lieutenant Colonel again, hehe!

Thanks for the support, expect the next and last chapter soon!

~MBK