THIS TOOK WAY TOO LOOOONG. But here it is - the third in the series of Secrets/Loyalties. I strongly suggest rereading those before reading this, because I kind of got carried away. Hehe. I'm tempted to repost the three as a separate story as well, so that people who don't want to read *all hundred themes* can read this little arc.
I enjoy writing Roy far too much, and I do it far too little. Apologies for the hints of RoyxEd, though, it just kinda worked in the context. It's nothing major.
I'm proud of myself, I title-dropped all three themes from the series XD
Quick reminder: this is divergent from Lab 5, so Hughes isn't dead :) And it's series one canon.
Fairyboydammit: Chapter 64: What about other takes disappoints you? I really haven't read enough about Pride to know. I'm glad you like it though – the idea of Ed as a homunculus has always appealed to me.
Chapter 65: Why thank you! I loved this scene (especially the fight choreography) and the entire half-brother thing was amazing, but the anime storyline doesn't appeal to me at all.
Chapter 66: Yay for warm fuzzies ^^ Even I get tired of depressing shit sometimes. (Not often though.)
Pen-Name-Kitsune-Chan: I hope odd is good :P I was going for a snapshot feel instead of a coherent 'story', mostly because I didn't want to think about what they'd laugh and bond over. Too much thinking. You're exactly right about the reasoning though
Thank you everybody for reviewing, you're all awesome and stuffs. Oh, and FullMetalMiniSkirt, this is for you
67. Redemption
Edward Elric had been missing for six months and seven days. His disappearance had been sudden and unexpected to most; an unexplainable tragedy, but in the end, simply that.
To two gentlemen in particular, however, it had been the finale to his slow and terrifying descent into what could only be called madness - a feverish madness that in turn, had gripped the more fragile of the two.
It wasn't too irredeemably cruel, then, to dismiss Alphonse Elric's latest information as more false hope.
"I'm telling you, it was him!" Al's two metal gauntlets crashed down onto Roy's desk, scattering the few papers remaining. Inwardly impressed that he'd managed not to flinch, the Colonel collected the papers into a pile and tidied them as much as he could - any excuse not to look at Al. It was amazing how guilty an expressionless suit of armour could feel.
"It's unlikely. He's either dead or -" he emphasized at Al's body language, "-he's left the city, if not the country. I don't see Full - er, your brother being stupid enough to stay here. Besides, we would have found him by now."
"Why won't you believe me?"
"Because you've been seeing your brother everywhere. If it wasn't for your unique problems, I'd have you sent to a psychotherapist."
"I-I'm not crazy!"
"I didn't say you were. Just stressed and missing your brother." Roy made the mistake of looking up, and then sighed. "Fine. Tell it to me again."
"I was walking down the street down in Lowertown last night, and it was raining really badly. There was a kitten under the tree, so I went to help him - then I looked up, and he was sitting in the tree."
"In the tree? In the middle of a rainstorm?"
Al nodded.
"Did he say anything?"
"No, but it was him, I know it!"
"Could it have been Envy?" Even as he said it, he half-regretted it - he could see the crushing disappointment in Al's eyes, lantern-lit and white as they were.
"I...I don't think so..." Suddenly Al gasped, straightening immediately and staring past his shoulder. Roy swiveled around in his chair just in time to see Ed's face framed in the window, gold eyes wide and blond hair disheveled around a dirty face. A few seconds later, he disappeared.
"BROTHER!" Roy threw an arm out to stop Al before he could throw himself out of the window.
"Don't," he murmured. "I'll go."
"But -"
"If it's a trap, Edward will never forgive me for letting you walk into it. Now stay - here."
"But-!"
"And that's an order. I don't care if you're not a soldier." With that, Roy opened the window, wincing as the cold wind whipped at his face. He slung one leg over the edge and looked down into the darkness, searching the parade grounds for movement - and there he was, running into the distance.
"I'm getting too old for this," he muttered, before jumping out of the building.
Envy didn't even afford Ed a glance as he came running into the warehouse. "Oh, there you are, pet. He coming?"
Ed nodded, breathing hard.
"Good, I'm bored already." He looked over Ed's shoulder. "Hold on, you got the wrong one."
Ed turned, and hissed furiously when he saw Roy in hot pursuit. "But -" He sighed. "Get out of sight."
"Don't tell me what to do, pet."
"Please," added Ed in the most conciliatory tone he could muster. It didn't seem to satisfy Envy, but with a huff, he slid deeper into the warehouse.
"Edward?" Roy's voice rang out from the darkness, and Ed winced. "Is that you?"
"Go away." His voice was hoarse and he knew it. "It's not supposed to be you."
"Oh?" It was too dark to see him, but the sound of footsteps told Ed that the Colonel was coming closer. "You wanted it to be Al who came, right?"
"I told you to go away."
"Not on your life, Fullmetal."
"Don't call me that." Ed was all too aware of Envy's presence. "I resigned, remember?"
"Of course. I have a suggestion, Edward." The Colonel's voice was as calm as ever. Only Edward's years of dealing with him revealed the tenseness beneath it, drawn tight as a steel wire. "Start walking forward."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
It can't do any harm. Al's not here. Slowly, he began to walk forward, fingers itching with the charged energy in the room. The circle was beneath their feet, but it wouldn't activate without Al's iron armour inside. One of the many new things he'd learned to do.
He could just barely make out Roy's silhouette, and his heart skipped a beat. They were less then a metre apart. It had been so long since he'd been this close to anybody else. He'd never found the Colonel attractive before, but after six months at Envy's tender mercies, he was nothing more than a slave to what he'd previously held prisoner.
"There we go," murmured Roy, just loud enough for him to hear. "Now...duck."
"What?"
"I said, DUCK!" he growled, pulling his hand out of his pocket and snapping just as Ed fell to a crouch. Both men shielded their eyes as fire lit up the previously pitch-black surroundings, and a second later, the air was filled with shrieking.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" screamed Envy, and in the light of the quickly-fading flames, Ed could see Roy smirk.
"I figured you were in here somewhere...Envy." Roy snapped again, a thin thread of fire dancing up towards the dusty lamp and igniting it. "Now, let's shed a little light on the situation, shall we?"
The darkness fled to the corners of the warehouse, revealing the tableau - Envy, hunched over and still flickering with red lightning; Edward, dropped to one knee and covered in half-healed bruises and scars visible even in the meager light; and Roy, standing tall with one hand in his pocket and the other still outstretched.
"So finally I get to lay eyes on your mysterious informant," he said, almost conversationally. "I have to say, I'm impressed. Not many creatures can withstand that kind of blast - and trust me, I was aiming to kill." His voice turned cold on the last few words.
Edward couldn't help a short, tense laugh. "Still bored, Envy?" he asked flippantly. The bastard's attitude was contagious.
"Shut up!" screeched Envy. "Remember who you belong to, pet!" There was none of the usual playfulness to the threat, just pure fury.
"Pet?" echoed Roy, looking down at Ed. "I see. Have you traded in one chain for another, then, Edward?"
"You shut your mouth, bastard," he hissed. "You don't understand."
"Oh, don't I? He offered you some tidbit of information to help Al and you went raring off on your own without any sort of consideration of anybody else's feelings, including his. Sounds about right."
Envy laughed, standing up straight with a 'crack' as he finished regenerating. "Oh, the pretty little Colonel's got it all figured out, don't he?"
Ed looked away. He didn't want to see Mustang's face when he heard the things he had done. And that was the only reason he saw the glint of metal at the doorway.
Suddenly, every muscle tensed up. "Envy -"
Envy ignored him. "Your pretty little pipsqueak loves being on his knees, did you know that? Of course not - if you did, you'd be using that office for more than just lecturing him. Who'd have thunk, though? Strong, wonderful, heroic, Edward Elric loves getting fucked like a girl. How's it feel knowing the closest thing you'll ever have to a son is a flaming faggot?"
Ed's eyes met Al's, and he couldn't look away.
The anger in Roy's voice was palpable. "And what does that make you?"
Envy chuckled darkly. "An opportunist. That's all. How could I pass up the opportunity to make him beg in the dirt?"
Ed's face was wet. He realized with a jolt that he was crying.
And Al was watching.
"And, of course, it's 'all for Al'. Ha! The things you humans will come up with. Your precious little loyalties. Your precious little lies."
Al took a step forwards, and the blackness that had been swelling and growing inside of Ed for six months and seven days suddenly metamorphosed into something white-hot. The circle crackled underneath him, feeling its ingredient close by and reaching, reaching out, beckoning it in -
"Mustang, get out."
"I'm not leaving you with this psychopath, Edward -"
Not wasting any more time with pleasantries, Ed slammed his entire weight into Mustang, shoving him into the wall of the warehouse and just outside the perimeter of the circle.
Al took one more step, too focused on his brother to look down. Ed clapped his hands and slammed them down onto the circle - and the feeble light of the lamp was swallowed up in the blue, red and purple aurora of the transmutation.
"BROTHER!" The scream made Ed shiver, thrown back momentarily to a night four years previously - until another scream brought him barrelling back to the present.
Envy writhed on the ground, clawing right through the concrete and into the earth below and dragging himself closer to Ed. "You...get...me...out...aggggggh!" His back bent almost in half as he convulsed in what looked to be unbelievable agony.
Ed said nothing, and Envy's purple eyes widened in realization, just before he retched up a mouthful of red stones shining dully in the alchemic show of lights. "You - bastard - you set -" Another mouthful came pouring out, sticky with saliva. "YOU SET ME UP!" He screamed again, reaching out towards Ed.
Ed smiled grimly, the tears still flowing down his face. "Have to say, you've got a healthy dose of pride along with your envy there. You handed me ancient alchemy texts and told me to have a good time. You thought I wouldn't turn against you eventually? I found everything I needed." Even the graveyard had been a stone's throw from Envy's favourite haunt. It was almost too good to be true.
"I -" He vomited again. "I gave you - what you - you wanted - AAAAAH!"
Ed felt his lip lift in a snarl and pressed down harder on the circle, even though he knew it would make no difference.
Envy brought up another handful of red stones, clattering on the floor, and his form shifted and changed, his powers finally giving out and restoring him to his true shape. He looked up at Ed with new eyes, just as gold as his. "You would kill your own brother?" he asked in an imploring voice, although drawn from the pain. It was the last secret that he had revealed, the one that had finally convinced Ed to turn on him.
"Brothers don't do what you did to me."
Envy smiled crookedly for a second before his face collapsed in agony again. "You - ahhhgh! - you loved...every moment. Don't lie, p-pet..."
Ed closed his eyes as Envy let out one last scream. He could feel his own energy fading - and then, just as he felt his consciousness start to slip away, a shoulder nudged his, making him open his eyes. The transmutation suddenly spiked.
"You're almost there," murmured a familiar sly voice, for once encouraging and honest with no hint of mockery. "The Red Stones should be enough fuel, and you can ignore equivalency. Just push."
Of course, he remembered. Roy had used a Red Stone before.
He pushed.
And there, just in the corner of his eye, where the world of the Gate and the real world crossed and collided, he could see Al - the way he was supposed to be.
For a moment, he quailed. He almost backed away in terror. He was filthy - he couldn't stand touching Al, letting his corruption taint his brother. He was dirt -
- but he pushed harder anyway.
This was his redemption. This was his second chance. And as he drew on the potential locked inside the Stones that were all that was left of the homunculus, he wondered if it wasn't Envy's redemption too.
Finally, the barrier collapsed. The light faded. And there, in the middle of the circle and breathing evenly in the gentle grasp of sleep, was a ten-year-old boy.
Ed crawled into the circle and collapsed next to him, murmuring only a few words before falling into blissful unconsciousness.
"Welcome home, Al."
To him, at least, it had all been worth it in the end.