If you are sensitive to the sexual abuse of a minor, please do not read.
Previously on Rebellion:
"Bye, Nina." Alphonse waved as the two began to walk away after the little girl had let go of Al. Edward looked back to see Tucker glaring at him.
That glare would haunt his nightmares forever.
Everyone stared at Edward in shock as he finished speaking. The things he went through with Tucker and had never said a thing. The worst part, no one ever noticed. Gracia placed a hand on Edward's back gently before holding him close.
The first thing she noticed was that Ed had grown stiff once her hand was on his back, but he had relaxed just before she pulled him closer, and he continued to stay relaxed.
"Edward.." Roy trailed off. He remembered every single time that Ed had been injured, that he would be there and not even notice. When the kid was in the hospital and said that he was being punished for losing Alphonse's body, he had no clue what he meant, now he thought he may know. "I amso sorry."
"It's over now, Mustang, it's not your fault," Ed said, not making eye contact with anyone. Judging by his voice wavering numerous times during his story, he was probably hiding the fact that he was crying. "The only place where it replays is right in here." he tapped the side of his head.
"Do you think you would want to talk to a professional about this?" Hughes asked. It was only logical that the teenager go see a therapist, he went through hell, and was probably still going through hell mentally and emotionally.
"No, I don't want anyone to know," Edward said quickly. In his haste to tell everyone no, he had looked up to see all of them. His eyes were bloodshot, he had been hiding himself the entire time. "Especially not Alphonse.."
"Alphonse doesn't know?" Roy asked. "Why haven't you told him? Why hasn't he found out?" It did make the man feel a little bit better that not only had he not realized what had been going on in Tucker's house behind closed doors, but neither had the boy who wasalways with Edward.
"No, he doesn't know, and he's not going to find out," Ed said sternly. Looking up at the men with his lost expression had suddenly become a glare directed to Roy after he said this. "I don't need him finding out how disgusting I am either."
"Edward, despite what Mr. Tucker said, it was not your fault. You didn't have anything to do with what he did to you, it was just his sick mind." Gracia said as she continued to hold him close.
"I know that," Ed said. "I know it wasn't my fault, I know everything he did to me was what he did and I didn't do anything. I know. But I guess a little part of me believes what he said."
"That's why you should go to a therapist and talk to someone." Roy told him.
"I'm not doing that, Mustang!" Ed shouted.
Upon hearing the shouting, Alphonse stood outside of the bedroom door. Elysia had been busy playing anyway, and Al told her he was going to the bathroom. The girl bought it easily; anyone would if they didn't know that Alphonse was just a hollow suit of armor.
Al knew that it was wrong to eves drop, but if there was a chance that his brother could be hurt–or hurting someone else–he would step in to stop whatever was happening.
"It would be in your best interest, Fullmetal. If you don't do it, I can always make it an order." Mustang said sternly.
"Roy, please, you're not going to get anything through to him if you force it," Hughes said. He knelt to Edward. "Ed, I have to know; if this happened so many years ago, what brought everything back? Have you been thinking about this since the day you left?"
"No, that's not it.." Edward trailed off. "Everything was fine, I only thought about it once in a while, and I could manage it, but..."
"What is it?"
"He's still alive." Ed told him.
"What? Still alive? He was executed, you know that, Ed." Hughes told the youngest boy.
"No, he's really alive," Edward said. "I saw him in Lab five when I sneaked in."
"Lab five? You went into Lab five?!" Roy shouted. So Hughes didn't tell him...
"Uh.." Ed trailed off. He had already gotten chewed out by Ross, he didn't need to get a lecture from Mustang as well.
"I didn't tell you, Roy, but Ed sneaked into Lab five and found out a lot of useful stuff," Hughes told his friend. "He's alright now. I'm more worried about how he saw Tucker." he then turned to Edward to get the rest of what happened.
"Well, I went to Lab five–you know that–and I saw Tucker there. He wasn't..the same.." Edward said.
"How do you mean?" Gracia asked.
"He...he was a chimera..but he kept his intelligence." Ed informed them.
"A chimera?!" Roy shouted. "Where is he now?!"
"I don't know, the place was destroyed, and I guess he left before it completely fell apart. My guess is whoever was keeping him alive took him in and relocated him somewhere safe." the boy told the adults.
"Great, so now not only do I have to worry about Scar, I have to find out where Tucker's been hiding as well," Roy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Today is just not my day."
At that very moment, the timer for the cookies went off. Gracia squeezed Ed's shoulder reassuringly before she stood.
"Looks like the cookies are done, I'll go take care of them," Gracia announced, walking close to Roy. "Be nice." she whispered, making her way out of the room. Noticing Al, she could only nod before walking to the kitchen.
"Edward, I really recommend that you go see a therapist," Roy brought up again. "If you don't, you'll just see the images of what Tucker did to you for the rest of your life."
"I don't want to. I don't want to talk about it to anyone; I didn't even want to talk about it to you guys. I can deal with the nightmares and the images, I've been doing fine so far." Edward told the older man.
"Ed," Roy took the boy's nickname and ran with it. "After the Ishvalan rebellion, I went to see a therapist at the suggestion of Hawkeye, and it did me wonders."
"You told me you still saw what happened." Edward retorted.
"It's much better than it was before," Roy responded. "I remembered what happened only when you looked at me the way you did when we were fighting."
The door burst open and Alphonse walked in.
"What is the Colonel talking about, brother? What did Tucker do to you that made him recommend therapy?"
Normally Alphonse wouldn't have just walked right in and interrupted everything, but he had overheard some of the stuff they said. The mention of Tucker doing something, the talk of therapy, how Tucker was alive. He heard everything about that.
Ed hesitated before speaking. He didn't want Alphonse to know; he had said so to the other men. If he said anything to Al, he knew what would happen. Alphonse would recommend therapy just as Roy did, or worse, he would want Ed to talk to him about it.
Then Alphonse would probably blame himself, not seeing all the signs, or being away too much to spend time with Nina. He would feel more guilty than Mustang and Hughes did, being there the entire time. Then he would finally realize why Edward had flipped out so badly when Tucker had turned Nina into a chimera using alchemy.
"Alphonse, your brother-" Roy was cut off by a nasty glare from the teenager. The man wanted to tell the younger Elric about what had happened to his older brother, but it would just cause Edward to be more angry, and probably more depressed.
Besides, the man knew that if he felt guilty, Alphonse sure as hell would feel guilty.
"Ed, I think you should tell Alphonse. I know what you're thinking, but it would be best if Alphonse know." Hughes said, a hell of a lot more calmly than Roy would have.
"But...but..what he'll think.." Edward couldn't get his whole sentence out, but both of the older men knew what he was meaning to say.
"Ed, it'll be alright. Alphonse won't hate you at all, understand? What happened wasnot your fault." Hughes told him. Edward nodded a little, knowing there was no way of worming out of it with the military men here.
"Alphonse.." Ed trailed off.
"Brother, please, just tell me what is going on." Alphonse said. Edward looked to Hughes who gave him a nod of reassurance.
"Al..four years ago..before I became a State Alchemist.." Ed couldn't get himself to get the words out. Finally, he forced himself to say it. "Before I became a State Alchemist..Tucker would take me to the basement.."
"You said he was helping you with your Alchemy, right?" Alphonse asked. He didn't understand what that had to do with anything.
"Yeah..." That's what he said, anyway. "Well..when we were in the basement...he would..he would hit me and.." Edward had to look back to Hughes, only to see both of the men nodding him on this time. Looking back to Al, he continued speaking. "He would hit me and he...he..raped me.."
There was a silence in the room. No one dared make a sound, waiting for the younger brother to respond. The men in the room expected Alphonse to comfort his brother immediately, but what they ended up with was not at all what they imagined.
"I'll kill him!" Alphonse shouted out suddenly. "I can't believe he would do that to you! The nerve; I will find him and I will end him!"
"Calm down, Alphonse, just calm down." Roy tried. He was more worried the kid would go ballistic and attack him–or any unmarried older man that came near Ed.
"Look, we'll leave you two alone, and Ed, you can tell Alphonse everything you've told us, alright?" Hughes asked gently. The boy nodded when the sniffles began. The men decided it was time to take their leave at this point. "Alphonse, just come and get us when we're needed." the younger brother nodded, the military men leaving.
After an hour, Alphonse still hadn't left the room. Hughes had started to get a little worried, so he left Roy in the kitchen with Gracia and knocked on the bedroom door to see if they needed anything.
"Yes?" Alphonse's voice asked.
"It's me, I just wanted to ask if you guys were alright in there." Hughes said, knowing the two would recognize his voice.
Alphonse then opened the door so Hughes could see that physically, they were both fine. Edward was curled up in the bed, facing away from the man, sniffling quietly.
Hughes smiled softly at knowing they were both okay, but knew that Edward was crying and upset about telling Alphonse. The man was sure that they would be alright, though, and even better with Al knowing about what had happened.
"Do you boys need anything while I'm here?" Hughes asked. Even if they said they didn't need anything, he would be back with a plate of Gracia's cookies for them.
"No, we're alright." Alphonse said. He sat beside the bed, Ed turning over so that he could grip Al's armored hand. Hughes could see that Edward had obviously been crying; his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked absolutely miserable.
"Alright, then." Hughes shut the door behind him, to give the boys privacy as he walked to the kitchen. Gracia handed him a plate of cookies, knowing that her husband would want to give them to the boys. The two shared a smile before Hughes returned to the bedroom.
"You really think giving him a plate of cookies is going to make everything better?" Roy asked. It wasn't harsh, it was just a simple question, though his tone sounded more depressed than anything. Depressed that he couldn't save the kid before he had to submit himself to that.
"It's a start," Gracia said with a smile. "I know that a plate of cookies won't erase all of the pain he's gone through in that house, but maybe it will let him know that he's safe here, and that he can stay as long as he wants."
"Huh," Roy then had to smile himself.
"Maybe this is the start."
The Epilogue is next week (on my birthday! :D) and then this will be over. It's sort of sad to see this story end, but I feel like I accomplished something amazing :)
Next Update: August 20th