So, school begun XD I'll try to keep the rhythm of updating every two days, but I'm sure I will do it at noon as I was doing all the time…instead, it will be random :/ I'm sorry, but thank you so much for the reviews:D They keep me going!
"The ticket to a brand new life"
"L001, we must proceed today"
"…W-why?", the boy asked with a voice that surprised and worried Roy.
"I don't know, it just orders. Dr. Mustang, you can come with us this time"
The boy glanced at Roy and then lowered his head defeated, so Lyra pushed him gently. The man stood up and followed both and saw how the kid was clenching his fist, but they were…shaking? Maybe in fear?
Roy walked behind Lyra and the kid through a corridor he didn't know staring at the boy's back. His behavior always changed when the woman came for him and he was about the find out why…although he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.
"Dr. Mustang", Lyra said suddenly catching the man's attention, "You have to understand that what are you about to see is classified and we're allowing you to be there because you have proved to be an excellent scientist"
Roy nodded. Of course what she meant was the he couldn't talk about this to anyone. The man noticed how the boy moved his head and glanced at him discretely, although he wasn't sure if the kid was angry or what.
They finally reached a huge door and Lyra knocked it three times before it moved to let them enter. Roy saw amazed the machines they had there, nothing he had seen before.
"You will have to sit at there and watch the procedure, Dr. Mustang", the woman told him as the kid walked away, "Newcomers aren't allowed to do anything until they become expertise"
The man obeyed and took a seat contemplating all the persons who were there checking out the machines or preparing them. However, he quickly moved his eyes towards the kid. Marcoh had placed some nodes on the boy's head.
"Today I want you to transmute something huge", the man said as he walked back to the computer.
The boy rolled his eyes, clapped his hands and transmuted a big wooden horse as he crossed his arms. Roy was astonished by the fact the kid didn't need a transmutation circle and could create such an impressive figure, but Dr. Knox wasn't that happy.
"I'VE TOLD YOU MILLIONS OF TIMES THAT YOU HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL WE GIVE YOU THE SIGN!"
The dark-haired man smirked when he saw the proud smile the kid had, as he found funny how he challenged the doctors. Roy wasn't sure why, but he liked that rebelliousness and he was sure the boy had a strong reason to being like that to them.
The man found about the reason soon. He noticed how bad the doctors treated the kid, always pushing or pulling him harshly or verbally abusing him. They forced him to transmute innumerable things until he saw how the boy panted exhausted, so a nurse approached and led him towards a bed.
The woman gave him a shot – the boy shut his eyes and his body shook frightened – and they connected nodes on his entire body. Roy bowed his head and screwed his eyes shut trying not to hear the boy's moans, he couldn't tell what they were doing to him, but it's certainly had to be painful. However, Roy had his first proof: that was considered 'human experimentation'.
They released the kid, but he just sat up in the bed and put a hand on his forehead. The dark-haired man noticed that the doctors weren't paying attention to him or the boy, so he quickly approached him.
"Are you ok?"
The kid flinched and looked up with his hand still on his forehead surprised that Roy was there, "…Yeah, I'm used to this"
"…Used?", Roy asked in disbelief, "You should laid down, you don't look right"
The boy shook his head and stood up, "The faster I go through the experiments, the faster I can go back to my room"
"Dr. Mustang, please go back to your seat"
Roy turned around and saw Lyra walking towards him, so he nodded, glanced at the boy and then moved away. The next tests were as bad as this one and he found hard to pay attention to the procedures as he was asked to. 'This is….horrible…how can they do something like this to a little kid?', he though as he bit his lip convincing himself for the thousandth time that he shouldn't do anything even when he saw the pain the boy's face. A pain he was trying to hid, used to it.
"Dr. Mustang, you should feel lucky", Mahjal told him with a wide smile, "First time you came and you will see the real power of this genius"
The man couldn't draw a smile, he just couldn't, so he merely nodded. Genius? In hell, they were torturing a little boy! And they would pay for this, he swore it for his life.
The boy heard Mahjal's words and his eyes widened, "Dr. Majhal, you promise that you wouldn't do that again if I behaved"
The doctor glanced at the boy emotionless, "Well, you are not behaving right now"
The blonde flinched and lowered his head so his bang hid his face, but he clenched his fist and his teeth. Roy didn't say anything, just saw how the man grabbed the boy's arm and pulled him away. He stuck the boy into a large glass cylinder and secured it.
"…What are you going to do?", Mustang asked finally to Dr. Lyra.
She smiled, "It's pretty fascinating, just watch"
The man nodded and stared at the blonde who was in the middle of the cylinder motionless. If the boy was more afraid of that than the tests they had done already, that couldn't by good, any good. He noticed how gas began to fill the container, so the boy backed up until he bumped into the glass and covered his nose and mouth with both hands.
"Dr. Lyra, what are you doing?!", the man snarled worried, but the woman didn't say anything.
Roy's eyes widened when he saw how the kid was struggling for air, so he glanced at the doctors desperate. Would they let the kid die there or what?!
"He has began"
The man then glanced at the cylinder and saw the blonde clapping his hands and touching the floor of the machine. The transmutation lightened the entire place that he had to turn his head to protect his eyes.
The light last like 10 seconds and then began to fade, so Roy did his best effort to see through it. The man flinched when he noticed the boy falling in the floor, so he took out his gloves but Dr. Lyra stopped him.
"Please remain quiet, he is not in danger"
"He fainted! How can you say that?!"
The woman shot him a warning glare and he put the gloves back on his pocket watching how everyone ignored the kid, but focused on a container next to the cylinder who was glowing.
"Now it's when the magic happens", Dr. Knox said.
In that moment, a door opened and two some guards came pulling two frightened prisoners and two dogs. The guards dragged the men intro another cylinder along with the dogs and closed it drowning the screams of fear. Dr. Marcoh then pushed a bottom and a transmutation circle was activated…but anyone was there to touch the circle…so how?
After the transmutation was complete, two human chimeras were in the middle of the cylinder. The prisoners had different features from the dogs and they began to scream scared complete aware of what happened.
Roy glanced at the woman, who had a big smile on her face, "Two chimeras using the boy's alchemy, easily and stable without using an actual alchemist. What do you think, Dr. Mustang?"
Well, it was really pretty fascinating, but he was actually more sickened by the fact that they had to push the boy that far to force him to do that, "Why do you need the boy to do that? Transmuting chimeras is not dangerous"
"Oh no, don't get me wrong", Lyra said as she pushed some bottoms and the others doctors approached the chimeras, "This is merely experimentation, of course we will use his alchemy to something more complex"
The man frowned, "So…you're going to keep doing that to the boy?"
The woman glanced at him confused, "What?"
"Well, nearly kill him every time you need his alchemy?", the man growled crossing his arms.
Lyra shot him a disapprovingly look, "I knew they shouldn't have let you get so close to the boy"
"Exactly! He's just a boy!"
The woman rolled his eyes, but Roy had already run towards the cylinder, opened it and lifted the boy bridal style. He noticed how pale the blonde was, so he clenched his teeth in anger and left the place slamming the door shut at the doctors' confused eyes.
………
"Shouldn't you be celebrating the creation of the chimeras with the other doctors?"
Roy flinched and looked up at the boy who was laid down in a bed in the medical area. The blonde had a tiny smile on his face and, so the man smirked and cross his arms.
"You took your time, little fellow"
The boy frowned, "…If I had the energy to yell at you, you can sure I would"
The man uncrossed his arms and stared at the boy with a concerned face, but the blonde sat up and smiled.
"It's been a long time since I have seen a worried face", the boy said with a low voice that seemed quite hollow.
Roy wasn't surprised. He sat at the boy's side and sighed, "Why are you here? I know you could escape whenever you want"
The boy slightly jumped, but didn't look up. Instead, he lowered his head as his hair fell over his shoulders messily. "I thought you were there"
"…There?"
"There, with the other doctors"
Mustang raised a brow, "I was"
"Then I don't understand how you didn't get the reason why I am here", the boy said with a bitter voice. However, he glanced at the dark-haired man and noticed the confused face he had, "I'm a threat to anyone near me"
Roy blinked a few times before he could process what the kid had said, "I hardly believe you're threat, you know?"
"…Are you blind or something?", the boy said quite angry, "I didn't hurt anyone back then because the machine protected all of you, but if something like that happens with people around me…I…I don't know what could happen"
"Are you saying that you can't control it?"
The boy merely nodded and lowered his head again, "I haven't had a proper training to use my alchemy, I just do what books say and I don't think that's enough. They won't train me".
The man contemplated the boy quietly for a moment, "…Then you don't know how you can do alchemy without a transmutation circle". The blonde shook his head, "And what about the transmutation you did before you fainted?"
"…I just know that I can do that only if I feel like I'm going to die…and it's not pretty", the boy said drawing a painful smile.
Roy remained silently for a moment again, thinking about how he should proceed. However, the boy stood up suddenly and stretched his arms.
"Hey, you shouldn't get up yet, you're still weak"
The boy stared at him for a second, "I'll go to my room, they always take me there. You should go back as well"
Yes, he should, but he really didn't want you. He wasn't sure if he would be able to force a smile and being interested in their 'fascinating' experiment.
"Are you sure you're OK?", the man asked him.
The boy grinned, "I'm strong enough to handle such things"
"…Yeah, but you're so little that-"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MIDGET?"
Roy smirked and left the room followed by a pissed off kid. Well, he had what he wanted, tonight was going to be the night he had waited as soon as he stepped on the place. The man glanced at the boy, certainly he was strong, but he didn't deserve to be a lab rat just because he was afraid he would hurt somebody. Damn scientists.
"Have some rest", the man said as the boy opened the door.
"Yeah, yeah"
The blonde go into the room and closed the door as Roy walked through the hallway with his fists clenched. He entered the place where the doctors were still analyzing the chimeras to check the stability of the transmutation; when Lyra saw him, the woman approached him.
"You shouldn't get too attached to the boy", she said catching the doctors attention, "This job doesn't allow that"
"One thing is to get attached, but you almost kid the boy", the man said harshly.
"We have done extraordinary things with his alchemy, most of them in medical research", Dr. Knox said quite annoyed.
"I don't care, you're using a little kid like an animal", the man said plainly crossing his arms, "That doesn't justify anything you can achieve with his alchemy"
"Dr. Mustang, don't be so moral about this", the man almost hissed, "The boy isn't hurt, you witnessed it, he is harmless, we're careful with that"
The man just rolled his eyes and watched how the guards they pulled the scared human chimeras out of the place and they began to talk between them…surely about him. Roy turned around and left the lab walking fast towards his room. He dialed up some numbers and waited until someone picked up the phone.
"Hawkeye"
"Elizabeth", Roy said in low voice, "I found the perfect ring"
The woman flinched and nodded, but she remembered the man couldn't see her, "Finally, I'll make the arrangements then"
"OK, see you soon"
The man hung up and laid down in his bed sighing deeply. Well, he couldn't say he hasn't seen such bastard humans before, but the fact that there was a kid was just away too much. He decided to sleep for a few hours before the big event of the night, so he would be fully prepared to it.
……………
The boy opened his eyes feeling his head still dizzy and tired; however, he had to stand up since it was almost night already and he wouldn't be able to sleep if he didn't. He yawned and scratched his head moving some locks of his face as he tried to fix it into a braid again.
Suddenly, the door opened and Roy entered the room and closed it again. The boy stared at the man as he walked towards the blonde and raised a brow.
"At least you could knock, you know?"
The man shushed him, but when the kid was about to burst in yells, Roy put a hand on his mouth, "Quiet", he muttered. The boy shot him an angry glare, but he nodded, so the man put the hand away. "We're going out of here tonight"
He widened his eyes, "….What?"
Roy then kneeled and placed both hands on the kid's shoulders, "Please, don't be scared. I'll help you, I'll train you if I have to, but you won't stay here anymore"
The blonde contemplated the man's obsidian eyes for a moment frowned as he was deciding whether he should trust the man or not, "B-but you saw what I did and-"
"I saw it and I can help you, I promise", the man said trying to sound as kind as he could. He had forgotten for a second that he was talking to a 10 years old boy.
The kid just lowered his head and absently nodded, so Roy grabbed his hand and pulled him.
"This will be dangerous, but I'll protect you, OK?"
The boy glanced at the man who had a confident smile on his face and noticed the gloves he had with a transmutation circle embroidered on them, "…OK"
Roy slightly opened the door and took a peek to check that there wasn't anybody there, and there wasn't. The man went out of the room followed by the kid as he glanced around raising a hand ready if he had to snap his fingers. They soon reached a dark hallway where the kid noticed the were a lot of men hid with military uniforms, so he looked up at Roy just to see how he took out his white coat to reveal that he had one of those too.
"…You are….you are in the military?"
The man glanced at the boy and nodded with a serious face, "Yes. I was infiltrated to catch them doing human experimentation"
The boy stared at him for a second, but then smirked, "I knew you weren't a doctor"
Roy smirked him back, "Smart boy". Then the man looked over his crew and his subordinates, "Well, let's get in"
All the men nodded and prepared their guns as Roy checked his gloves and grabbed the kid's hand. The crew went first and aimed his guns ready if they had to shoot suddenly, so Roy walked with the boy behind him towards the lab where he was sure the doctors were. And he wasn't wrong, they had to immobilize some guards to reach it, but when the dark-haired man opened the door, it was clear that the scientist wasn't expecting that.
"…Dr. Mustang?", Marcoh said in disbelief, "What is this?"
"I'm not a doctor. I'm Colonel Mustang and you all are under arrest by the charge of using humans for your experimentations", he said.
Everyone had shocked faces, but then Roy pulled the kid behind him and the boy heard shoots so he tried to see what was happening…only to see the extraordinary skill the man had, snapping his hands transmuting what it seemed to be small bombs and fire. He was speechless.
It took just a few minutes before they could control them since they didn't have a huge force. They really thought they were safe in there it seemed. Roy just smirked when the doctors shot him angry glares, but the kid that was behind him catching his attention since he was staring at him.
"You're free now", the man said with a sincere smile, "No more tests"
The boy just lowered his head. Of course that was a good thing, but Roy knew the boy was just worried that he could hurt somebody, so he kneeled in front of him.
"Hey, I promised you that I would help you, and I'll keep my word"
Riza glanced at them discretely surprised by the kind face Roy had, not a smirk or a grin, but a sweet smile, not very common in him. The rest of the crew noticed it too and they looked at each other confused.
"Why do you want to help me?", the kid asked finally staring at Roy's obsidian eyes. He couldn't help but trust the man just by looking at his eyes, but this was just too sudden.
"Well, maybe because short kid like you deserves better in his life that this"
The blonde flinched, "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOU WOULD HAVE TO BEND TO LOOK AT HIM!"
"…But I have to", the man teased him, but smiled at the angry face of the kid, "You don't want to see what it's behind these walls? The city, the people…the books?"
The kid's pissed off face washed out and turned into a serious one, but remained silently for a moment before he drew a tiny smile and nodded, "I think you just want me around to prove that you're better in chess than me"
Roy rose with a smirk on his face, "Well, I hadn't had thought of that…"
The man noticed the astonished faces his crew had, so he raised a brow.
"Something is bothering you all?"
Everyone shook their heads, but Riza stared at him as the kid watched how the officers examined the chimeras, "What are you doing, Sir, if may I ask?"
The man was expecting that question, "I'm not sure"
"…You really shouldn't promise the kid something you're not sure you will do"
"Hey, I didn't say anything about not keeping my word", the man complained slightly hurt by the insinuation…or more than an insinuation.
"Are you going to live with the boy or something?", the woman asked him concerned.
Roy nodded, "At least for a while…He is just amazing…and I know something or someone was behind all this. I don't buy the fact that the doctors were using him just to 'medical research'", the man said turning at the boy, "He…he could be dangerous in the wrong hands"
Riza just sighed, "Maybe, but we are talking about a kid…are you sure you're qualified to take care of a child? Alchemist or not?". Roy glared at her quite annoyed by her insistence. "And why are you so sure they would let you keep him in your house instead of an orphanage – assuming he doesn't have parents?"
"Too many questions, First Lieutenant", he said crossing his arms, "I'll solve one by one"
Riza glanced at the kid, who was already walking towards Roy. He seemed quite frightened by the chimeras – and she didn't wonder why, they were horrible -, but at the same time had a hint of anger and hate on his eyes.
"Will you get along with the kid?", Riza asked him suddenly.
Roy nodded, "Hey shorty! Time to go!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHORTY YOU OLD MAN!"
"…Old?", the man said with wide eyes, "OLD?! I'M JUST TWENTY FIVE YOU MIDGET!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT I HAVE TO BE LOOKED THROUGH A MICROSCOPE TO BE SEEN?!"
Riza stared at them blinking a few time as she couldn't believe how they treated each other, "…Maybe I'm worrying far too much…."
………………
Hope you liked it :D Maybe I will upload small drabbles I have from "Almost a perfect life" that I couldn't include- cut would be more accurate - in the fic because it would have been…well…even LONGER XD. I'll let you know since I have then in Spanish and I have to translate them ;)