The Inferno

Chapter 6

With Words Unshackled From the Rhymes

Roy wrapped his arms around Riza's waist and buried his head in the crook of her neck as she finished preparing dinner. It had been too long since he had appreciated the smell and feel of her and he couldn't comprehend how he went so long without it. He squeezed her and enjoyed the moment as Hayate sniffed for scraps around their feet. "I'm sorry. I don't understand why I said those things yesterday. I love you, I might question why you're here with me but I...I don't know why I said that. I haven't been myself. "

She ran her hand over his exposed forearm and was glad he smelled better in addition to sounding more like himself. She looked down at the stitches on his hand and was thrilled to see they weren't infected or dribbling pus. Somehow he at least managed to tend to his wounds, or Hayate did when he fell asleep. "I'm worried about losing you Roy. More than I was on that train or waiting on you in the hospital."

"I can't explain it. I just can't focus on anything else but these sins and circles of hell. I try, I try to think of something else and I'm unable to focus. It's the only clear thing in my mind right now." He took a deep breath and tried to clamp his eyes down tighter. "I feel like I'm lost in my own head. That's the best explanation I can give you."

"Then we keep talking." She said softly and caressed his arm some more. She should have known it would take something extreme like sweeping him off his feet and calling him an idiot to shock him out of his mindset, but she had been so scared of losing him that she was frozen in place. "We need to start you thinking again. Whatever happened to you in that hospital has been like a bag over your head."

"I was awake during all of it." He said simply.

"And they erased your memories after." She reminded him. "Which is what has me worried. This isn't like you, you don't obsess on things like this. I know how you think, we've been together for a long time."

"We have. You've never given up on me." He smiled as he recalled a time in his apprenticeship when he was struggling with some concepts in his studies. Riza had stayed up with him, denying herself sleep she so desperately needed to help him. That was the first night she had fallen asleep on him, the first night he had wrapped a blanket around her skinny body and put his arm around her as she slept. Riza was a problem solver, she could see ways to fix things that he just couldn't. She fixed things with baling twine while he tried to alchemize rope. She was incredible.

"I never will."

"Did you make me a cheese and bacon omelet?" He asked as she served up his meal without twisting out of his embrace.

"And cinnamon sugar toast." She pushed another plate over and felt him affectionately squeeze her in a silent thank you.

"See, this is the kind of food they serve in heaven." He said and placed a kiss on her cheek. "You are a saint."

"To you and the dog." She said as he rounded the counter and sat on the stool then fumbled with the fork. To her amazement he was able to flex his fingers enough to hold it and shovel food into his mouth. "Your hand is working."

"Mmm..." He hummed as he chewed the first bite of the delicious breakfast creation. "It's the one that was shot."

"Alchemy...can mend tissue not ignore the healing process." She said. "That's not equivalent exchange."

"It's bothering me too." He said and looked over at his crushed hand and moved the fingers a little. "The bones, that repair falls under reconstruction. The tendons I think were reattached surgically. The swelling and tissue damage, crushed blood vessels, joints and skin...I can't explain that. Something that should take several surgeries and months of healing came out of the hospital already progressed past that."

She felt queasy, a feeling in the pit of her stomach that everything came back to those hours he was alone with the surgical team. What the hell happened behind those closed doors? His hands were healing too quickly, the Elrics were suspicious about that as well. Then there was his lack of mental clarity, even in his worst moments he could still be counted on to think and react. "I think they did something to you."

He looked at his hand and poked at the omelet. "Just because I'm interested in reading doesn't mean someone brain washed me. I already owned this book, I just felt the need to come back to it now that I have some down time. I think it's a stretch to think they'd put my hands back together and disable my mind instead."

She went to the couch and sat down, picked up his book and setting it on her lap. Unfortunately she felt like that was exactly what happened.

"What are you guys working on?" Ed leaned over the table when he saw maps and books all over the conference table. His golden eyes shone bright as he took in all the treasures and hovered close enough to get a whiff of the old book smell.

"A project for the Colonel." Breda replied and watched Ed snap up a drawing of the circles of Hell from The Inferno. Al was leaning over the findings as well and there was little hope of prying either of them away from any of it. Good. Ed's abrasive nature and alchemist brain would be the key to pushing Mustang out of his comfort zone.

"His book huh?" Al said as he saw an Amestrian translation open on the table and leaned over to read it. He looked over at the map and several books of artwork that had been made for this epic poem, there was nothing even remotely cheerful about any of this. Perhaps he should have given him those get well kittens after all.

"So the circles are the place where the sinners go? " Ed said as his finger traced over the drawing and then his eyes shifted to some notes beside it. A translation of the sins into modern terminology. It was an impressive creation, the author went through a lot of work to lay the foundation for his masterpiece.

Falman nodded and showed Ed a book he was reading about the religion of Aerugo. "The seven deadly sins. The sins are layered by severity and within each circle those who committed those sins, tortured in a way that is befitting their crimes."

Ed sat down and read some of the notations on the side of the map. Religion. People living in fear of an afterlife like this and the religion itself gaining it's power from that fear. He didn't understand that. It clearly didn't work to deter people from sinning as this Hell was far from empty. It even put people from other religions and time frames in there, punishing them for something they had no knowledge of. "It's lovely. I'm sure the guy who dreamed up all these horrible things is a complete angel. Not some judgmental, hypocritical, twisted bastard."

Al hoped his brother wouldn't go into a diatribe regarding religion as he really didn't know where Mustang's team stood on the mater. Al understood that people needed hope, even if he didn't quite believe in that particular manifestation of hope. He looked at a list that Fuery was making and noticed something. "Look at this list of sins."

Ed shoved the map away and sighed. He looked at the notes Fuery had taken, listing reoccurring themes and names. They must have been hoping to find something that had triggered a memory for the Colonel and ergo some explanation for wanting to read the book. He cocked his head when he saw a list of the sins all in one place. One stood out among them all. "Envy. Like that guy I met at Lab 5."

"Don't forget Greed." Al said and Ed's eyes lifted to meet his. "This can't be coincidence."

"What if the homunculus are all names after sins of man?" Al ventured to put that theory out there and his brother snapped it up and ran with it.

"Ironic. Name your ultimate taboo creations after mankind's greatest flaws." Ed mumbled and looked at the list again. "This doesn't make sense."

"Any more sense than the homunculus being in that lab? Or Greed wanting to be immortal?" Al asked. "They answer to someone."

"This can't be a coincidence. Has the Colonel ever mentioned this as his favorite book?" Ed asked Havoc who was curiously looking over the list in his hand.

"I'm pretty sure his little black book of dating is his favorite." Havoc said and glanced at Breda who was deep in thought. He suspected his best friend had laid out this presentation specifically so the Elrics could eat it up and burst into Mustang's apartment again. It was no wonder those two could play chess together. Ed could get away with saying damned near anything, whereas they were still bound by military protocol to obey their commander's order to leave.

Al looked at the drawing that was on the table top and read off the sins and the individuals that would find themselves condemned to that circle of Hell. He made it to the bottom and said, "Brother, you might want to look at this: Circle eight."

Ed looked at where Al was pointing and shook his head. "Oh hell no."

"Technically, Hell yes." Al said and Ed rolled up the map of hell and marched out of the office. He waved a goodbye to the confused staff and followed after his brother.

"There are seven deadly sins and seven heavenly virtues." Riza said and placed her finger on Roy's lips as they parted to vocalize a protest. "If you were so corrupted by a single sin or a combination of all of them, don't you think I would have considered that straying from your path? Don't you think I would have had to fulfill my promise to you?"

He stared into her eyes as she waited for his answer. Her finger left his lips and he struggled to explain why so much was on the fuzzy peripherals of his vision and his only clear view was of these sins. He didn't have an explanation and he couldn't refute her statement. She was asking him a simple question and he couldn't answer it. The one thing he did know was that he had hurt her with his words and now he was insulting her integrity by implying he was beyond salvation. "Riza...it's a stretch to say that there is anything virtuous about me."

"Did it ever occur to you that Maes was trying to help you out of Hell? That, just like in life, he was trying to help you get to the top?" She watched him swallow and that sad look come over him, that look that overwhelmed him every time Hughes was mentioned. "He would never haunt you Roy. You bring that upon yourself. That man believed in you and so do I. So you are going to sit here and listen to why I support and follow you, you're going to hear why I love you. If this pit you have cast yourself into is the very absence of love then a man who loves me, his friends and family and his country would never be granted access to it. You represent everything that that these people have forsaken."

There it was again, the surge of defensiveness from having to hear he was wrong. He shuffled uncomfortably and she started to run her fingers through his hair to keep him from leaving the comfort of her arms. Wrong? He looked at her smile, she knew exactly how her words would affect him and continued talking before he could make a comeback.

"You're the very opposite of pride." She stroked his fine black hair and cradled him against her chest as they laid on his couch together. "Humility. You might be the cocky Colonel but deep inside you feel like you're so unimportant, unworthy...sacrificial. Your guilt makes it impossible for pride to be your downfall. You're not proud of anything you've done, even the biggest accomplishments come with an unpleasant aftertaste. A man corrupted by pride, would be above questioning his own integrity, believing himself to be perfect and beyond reproach. "

He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feel of her fingers running through his hair. "I'm an asshole."

She tugged on his hair. "You take care of everyone around you, you work towards becoming a better man. You're confusing the man you've created for the public view with the man you really are. You're not lazy, you do nothing but work. Sloth isn't a sin of yours, maybe for Colonel Mustang who pretends to sleep so nobody sees he's a brilliant mastermind. You work overtime, skip meals and don't get enough sleep. Just like the young student who used to fall asleep with his face in his alchemy books. Intergrity and work ethic are among your greatest virtues. Dedicating yourself to this goal, a lifetime goal, is the very opposite of sloth."

"You love me. You see good in me that even I don't believe is there." He replied and looked up at her beautiful face.

"I love you because of the man you are." She said. "Not the image you want the outside world to see while you climb to the top. A man ruined by greed would want power, but you want to give power back to the people. You drink too much but I can't blame you for that. You're only human and we've done so much...but you have exercised great restraint where it comes to your alchemy. Gluttony is indulgence, temperance is control. Even when you do indulge and drink too much, you are mindful to not go so far that you can't control your power. You realized that years ago and Hughes and I both saw that in you."

They both looked to the door as a knock interrupted her. He knew that knock. Obnoxious, loud and always at the wrong time. He groaned and mumbled, "It's the Elrics. Again."

She nudged him to ask him to move. Perhaps that was enough discussion for the moment, he would need to mull over her statements in order to counter with his own objections. She'd be ready and nothing he could throw at her would make her back down. "Unless you want them to barge in here and see us like this, you best get off me."

"What is with them?" He asked. "Why do they think I'm dead if I don't answer my door? You'd think that kid would understand losing a hand wouldn't be a death sentence."

"They're a little over reactive, they're worried about you." She said and then added, "They're worried about losing you."

"Like Hughes?" Roy said and sat up. "I took him from them too."

"Now they're exclusively yours." She said and stood up as he ruffled up his hair a little. "They also enjoy talking with you and you're impossible to deal with in the office."

"I wouldn't go that far..." Roy said and she gave him a smile as she went to the door.

Riza opened the door just as Ed began to pound on it with his automail fist. "Ed, you're going to disturb the entire apartment complex."

Ed pulled back his hand and said, "I'm sorry...but we've made a discovery."

"Clearly not fucking manners." Roy's voice carried from inside the apartment.

Ed narrowed his eyes and hissed, "Clearly he's feeling better."

Riza opened the door so they could both come in. She closed it behind them and made her way to the kitchen. "Can I get you something to eat?"

"Don't feed him, he'll never leave." Roy said and Ed came over to look down at him.

"I think we've figured out why you've suddenly found an interest in the Inferno." Al said.

Riza froze. She wasn't sure how this was going to go. Was Ed going reveal the part about Prince Claudio visit or that the whole team was concerned about his mental well being? Her fear abated as Ed smacked Mustang in the head with the rolled up poster and then unraveled it in front of his eyes. He tapped the bottom of it and said, "See this? Do you see who ends up in one of the deepest pits of Hell?"

"Alchemists." Roy read the words where Ed's finger was and leaned back and huffed. "What? Now you suddenly believe in God?"

"No. I refuse to believe this crap!" Ed snapped. "Because there is no way in Hell that I am spending eternity locked away somewhere with you."

"You've got to be kidding me." Roy said and finally cracked a smile for the first time in days. "That is what you find appalling? You're the one who let yourself in this afternoon and then showed up again for dinner! You probably are going to move in tomorrow at this rate. Sounds like you're on target to bring Hell on both of us this week!"

"This Dante has quite an imagination and seems like and entitled ass. That's what I've gathered from just from the summary and I don't even want to read the poem. " Ed snapped and turned the map around to read the punishment. "Alchemists corrupt God's work so they get an infectious disease because they are one to society? Falsifiers of metal. Worse than murderers? One tier above the devil? Are you kidding me?"

Roy rolled his eyes and Ed tossed the poster on the coffee table. "Well, if it's any consolation Fulllmetal I'm sure they'll want to kick you out after you've been there for a few hours. I know I do."

Al watched as his brother went to smack the Colonel again but the man swatted the poster off the table. "It's good to see you feeling better Colonel."

"The Lieutenant helped me come to my senses." Roy looked up as Ed stood above him with his hands on his hips like he was going to make some great speech. "So what is your great discovery, Ed? That you can barge in here and get fed for free? Or are you worried about my health now?"

"This has nothing to do with you! You're worrying the Lieutenant and I don't like it!" Ed huffed and saw Mustang's face soften. Then he calmed down enough to get down to business. "Remember when we snuck into Lab 5?"

"When you let loose a serial killer who became obsessed with Hawkeye? Oh...and the whole building blew up?" Roy shrugged and casually leaned back into the couch. "Maybe."

"Too bad they couldn't have memory wiped your shitty attitude." Ed grumbled. "Envy was the name of that thing that I fought, the picture you hung up on the fridge. And that guy that kidnapped Al was Greed."

Riza perked up. That couldn't be a coincidence.

"Isn't it odd that these people were named after sins? Homonculus named after sins?" Al added.

Ed grinned as he saw a flicker of interest from Mustang. He got excited, maybe they had figured this out. "I didn't really think about it until Al saw the list of sins in the office. I was looking at the map so I didn't see it but all the sins are their own distinguishable level. Ever since that encounter in Lab 5, I haven't been able to stop thinking about everything they said. Just hints of a grand scheme, they saved me for something. They were worried I found out too much and the Slicer Brothers revealed information. They called me a human sacrifice. In fact, that woman said two of the sacrifices meaning Al is one too. What if...they're trying to save you or keep you out of the way too?"

Roy digested all that. Then leaned forward and said, "What list in the office?"

Al gasped. "Uh...well..."

"Everyone wants to join our book club." Ed quickly said. "Especially Falman, he's really into foreign literature."

Roy looked over to Riza who gave him an apologetic look that confirmed that she enlisted the help of the team. He wanted to be mad, but he knew that she'd never bring the others into this unless she was desperate. He had scared her. He looked back to Ed who was standing there like a dog who retrieved a bone, not sure if he was going to get a pat for a job well done or yelled at for digging in the yard. He took a deep breath and leaned back into his couch and said, "Book Club."

"Yeah." Ed said and laughed when he thought about Team Mustang gathering around the conference table some night talking about the book of the month. "Might improve morale."

"I'll take it into consideration." Roy said and looked at his hands. He was saved for something and the extent that the State went to to save him was extreme. He was certain there were more people in the higher ranks that would prefer to see his alchemy sidelined permanently; it made him dangerous and it made him stand out. All of this was too coincidental and finally he let his eyes lift and look at that book without feeling it's intoxicating pull call to him. He was an alchemist and he believed in truth, not some poetic words of a bitter man immortalized in text. "So, why don't you all fill me in on what I've been missing at work?"