The Game of Three Generals

by Lady Norbert

A/N: And here we are at the end. Thank you all. :) Stay tuned after this chapter, though, because there's one more coming; the story ends here, but I have some information to share.

The idea of Grumman as a teller of "big fish tales" came from FFN's own jellyjay, who has him do exactly that when we discuss FMA characters in our email, and because of her adorable portrayal of him in her own fic, I really can't see him as not doing it.

Epilogue: The Jeweled General

The Jeweled General: The King

Three years later...

"Grummy!"

Roy laughs as his grandfather-in-law enters the courtyard, only to be virtually attacked by a tiny army. Grumman calmly picks up his great-granddaughter, takes his great-grandson by the hand, and moves to a chair. Lucas and Fu sit on the ground at his feet with Brendan, while Riana - true to her name - occupies pride of place in his lap. "Story, story," the boys are chanting. Elysia, now almost thirteen years old and just as pretty as her mother, decides to join them.

Roy smiles, shaking his head, and makes his way to accept a drink at the little bar Armstrong has set up. His sister is reluctantly allowing Alex to make use of the family mansion to host a gathering, a reunion of sorts, including their friends visiting from Xing. The Emperor and Empress are sitting with Princess May, who is clearly in the final weeks of her own first pregnancy, and Winry, who is giving baby Lily a bottle; Al and Ed are walking around the grounds.

"When will our friends be arriving from Ishval, General?" asks Armstrong, passing him the glass.

"I expect the unit to arrive this afternoon." Roy hasn't worked in Ishval full-time in over a year; he usually visits for a week or so every other month to see how things are getting on, but Miles is doing an exceptional job. Douglas - now Captain Douglas - is working as his direct adjutant, and Scar helps out as much as non-military personnel possibly can.

"Yoo-hoo! Riza!"

"And there are the Havocs," he says without turning around, chuckling. "You're late," he adds, louder.

"Not as late as Breda," Havoc calls defensively. "He's taking his sweet time picking up his date!"

"Actually, he's picking up the Falmans. Their train from Briggs isn't getting in for another ten minutes. What's your excuse?"

"Uh..."

"On second thought, maybe I really don't want to know." Havoc laughs and joins him at the bar.

It's a good life.

It's better than he ever thought he'd have, in fact.

Grumman is discussing retirement. He's now been the Fuhrer for nearly six years, and as much as he doesn't like to admit it, he's feeling his age. Roy and Riza and the kids live with him full-time, partly because he wants to enjoy his great-grandchildren as much as possible and partly so that he can foist responsibilities onto the Fuhrer Auxiliary as often as necessary. What they've agreed is that, unless his health precludes the possibility, he'll remain at the helm of the country until the tenth anniversary of his inauguration, after which he'll seriously consider stepping down and letting Roy take over. The Parliament is enjoying greater authority than it has in decades, putting Amestris that much closer to being the democracy that Roy envisions.

Riza might still be a colonel in the military, but she spends a fair amount of time actually filling the duties of First Granddaughter; since Amestris has no First Lady, she handles the role of official hostess for state occasions, and occasionally represents her grandfather in a diplomatic capacity as well. She's going to be visiting the royal family of Aerugo in another month.

Madame's business is doing tolerably well, although it will soon be doing so without her. She wants to retire; she's sick of being on her feet so much. Grumman keeps offering to let her move into the executive mansion, so she can spend as much time with the twins as she likes, and Roy thinks he might finally be wearing her down on that point.

Fuery and Sheska, who had started dating after the events surrounding Fullmetal's wedding, broke up when he moved to Ishval to be part of Riza's security detail. Now that she and her loyal protectors are back in Central permanently, the bookworms have picked up where they left off. Roy's not sure how serious it is, but they're definitely kind of cute together. Breda, to his profound bewilderment, is meanwhile dating one of Roy's adopted sisters, a fact which tries to create mental pictures that Roy really does not want. Havoc and Rebecca just celebrated their second wedding anniversary, and spend so much time with him and Riza that he finally made them give up the expense of their own apartment and move into the carriage house on the manor grounds.

When he was a child, Roy always expressed disbelief at the stories that ended with "...and they lived happily ever after." He's still not sure he believes in such a thing. After all, nobody's happy all the time - not even him. But he's so much closer to it than he ever dared to imagine.

Breda arrives with the Falmans. Elijah and Vanessa immediately run to join the other children clustered around Grumman; like Roy and Riza's twins, every child in the extended family refers to the Fuhrer as "Grummy," and they adore him. He seems happiest when he's spending hours telling them exaggerated stories of his youth.

"All right, all right, gather around," he says, laughing. "Now that everyone's here, I have a special story for you. I've been saving it just for the occasion. It's a true story, and it's about some people you all know very well." A hush settles over the courtyard; it seems that even the grownups want to hear this story, and Roy has to admit he's curious.

"Once upon a time...many years before you children were born...there was a tall and proud and handsome king."

"I wonder who that is," Riza murmurs to Roy.

"King Roy was the ruler of a country that had many problems, because it had once been ruled by an evil man who spread wickedness and discontent wherever he went. The handsome young King wanted to make it a better place, so that all his people could live in peace and be happy. He led a group of very courageous knights who performed many brave and noble deeds, and saved the country from many dangers. They had many great friends, too, such as the Emperor and Empress of a faraway kingdom, and a Queen in the frozen north. But the King was sad. Why do you think he was sad, Elysia?"

"Because he didn't have a Queen?" Elysia has been listening to Grumman's stories longer than the other children, being the eldest, and she has an idea of how they go.

"Because he didn't have a Queen. That's right. There was a very beautiful lady knight in his company, though, and he loved her. The Lady Riza loved him, too, but she felt it was more important to protect him from the dangers that come with being king than it was for her to marry him."

A few knowing snickers are heard. Grumman smirks. "But Lady Riza," he continues, "had a grandfather called... Rummy." The children giggle. "Rummy knew magic. So he cast a spell on the kingdom that made it safe for King Roy to marry her and make her his Queen."

"I don't remember that part," Roy comments quietly.

"Then the King and Queen moved into the desert, because there was great work to be done in the desert. And while they were there, an evil wizard rose to power. He wanted to destroy all the good work that the good King Roy and his men had done. So he had his men kidnap Queen Riza's best friend, the lady knight Rebecca, and everyone went bravely to her rescue. But while they were rescuing Lady Rebecca, Queen Riza was lured into a trap, and the evil wizard had her in his clutches!"

Breda stifles a laugh at the way the children all gasp. "He's something else."

"What do you think happened then, Vanessa?"

"The King saved her?" guesses Falman's daughter.

"Unfortunately, no. King Roy was so sad over Queen Riza's disappearance that he fell into despair. He became very, very sick, and his loyal knights were afraid he might die. So they sent messengers to all their friends, asking them to come and help them find the Queen."

"So that's how that went," says Havoc, amused.

"And they came!" Grumman continues. "The great and powerful Sir Alex, and his friends Sir Dennis and Lady Maria...and the mighty but retired sorcerer called Fullmetal, with his beautiful wife...they all came to help. And the King took strength from the presence of so many friends. Then the mysterious warrior priest with the scarred face found out where the Queen was being held prisoner, so King Roy and all his friends charged into the desert to save her. But the evil wizard escaped, and everyone had to work very hard to find him."

"Then what? Then what?"

"Do you remember the Queen's grandfather, Rummy the kindly wizard?"

"Yes!"

"The evil wizard sent his apprentice to do battle with him, and everyone thought that Rummy had died in the fight. Then the evil wizard tricked the people into thinking that it was King Roy who killed Rummy, and a great trial was held. Queen Riza was taken prisoner again, and couldn't help him, and his loyal knights were sent to the far corners of the world where they couldn't help him either. All seemed lost. But then..."

"What? Grummy, what?"

"Rummy came back!" The children gasp again. "He wasn't dead at all! But he was badly hurt, so he couldn't come back sooner. And the knights came back! They sneaked back into the kingdom, and they found Rummy, and together they all went to save King Roy and Queen Riza. Their friend the warrior-priest defeated the evil wizard, and a little later the Queen gave birth to a Prince and a Princess, and the kingdom was saved and everyone was happy, just as King Roy had always wanted."

"So they lived happily ever after?" asks Lucas, somewhat dubiously.

"Yes. That's exactly what they did." Grumman looks up, and only then does he seem to realize that the adults have been listening as intently as the children. "What? Am I wrong?"

Roy looks around, drinking in the sight of his friends - his family. He lets his gaze rest on each one of them in turn and, as he feels Riza lace her fingers with his, he meets Fullmetal's eyes. The younger man smirks first, but then relaxes his features into a proper smile.

"No, Fuhrer Grandfather, sir," Roy replies, looking back over at the storyteller. "You're absolutely right."

~Fin~