This happened way more quickly then I thought it would but here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!
"How could we let this happen?"
"He was too strong."
"That's no excuse! We have no leads, no evidence of any kind of where he could even be! We are screwed-and Ed….shit…we have to find him."
Mustangs eyes opened at that, a black fog soon overtook his vision as he sat up, hiding a cringe from the immediate jolt of pain to his side he quickly found his voice, "Where is Ed?" Roy quickly regained his vision back as the paling faces of his comrades and best friend came into view, he grit his teeth as his fists shook, "Where is Ed?!"
Hughes looked at the other two bruised and battered men as they took that time to quietly leave, a sure amount of guilt plagued their faces as they looked back apologetically.
"Roy…"
"Do us both a favor and cut the crap Maes, let's just get to the point, tell me exactly what happened."
Hughes sighed as he shifted in his chair, his hands now lay on his knees as he leaned forward, Roy took this time to look over his friend's injuries. He saw the slight sway in Hughes's features, he knew that his friend was and had been trying to hold out just to fill him in upon his awakening.
"He was too strong Roy…it all happened so fast. One minute we were talking about how long we thought we had till Sin found us and the next…it was already too late."
Mustang's stare never faltered, urging his friend to continue.
"I'm not sure I have ever seen an alchemist make transmutations so quickly, he didn't even touch the ground or clap his hands…nothing Roy, he just did it! You passed out after you stepped on the first land mine that must have been planted by Sin way before we arrived."
Roy's stomach dropped as he heard this, "so he was several steps ahead the entire time…we should have checked Fullmetal's clothing, he no doubt planted something on the kid to be able to know all our plans like this." Dark eyes narrowed as Hughes shifted uncomfortably.
"What is it Hughes?"
"I have good reason to believe that Ed gave away our location on purpose upon Sins command. I do not know when he made contact with Sin in the short amount of time he wasn't being watched closely but there is no doubt." Upon seeing his friends anger Hughes decided to continue quickly, "When the first explosion sounded and took you down we didn't have much time to act. Armstrong was the only reason we got away with our lives. We originally had Ed and were going down the mountain side as doctor Ty worked on stopping one of your worse injuries, you had been impaled by a metal rod that barley missed your organs…it was almost like a warning to not try anything…"
Mustang looked down as he tried to piece all the information together, "I should have been more cautious…to think I stepped on a mine of all things."
Hughes shook his head, "they were planted everywhere, all it took was Sin seeing us arrive and as soon as he enabled the damned things everything was up in smoke in an instant."
"I see…so if we had Ed in the ambulance with us... and Armstrong stayed behind to fight Sin off then how did Ed get taken?" This was when a slight tension filled the air, the unease made Roy nauseous as he watched his friend struggle to find words. "Hughes…"
"Ed jumped out of the ambulance."
Fire ignited the room around the two as Mustangs anger fueled the flames, with a slight sigh Mustang took his gloves off and placed them to the side, the fire died as he breathed. "He jumped."
"Yes. Not only did he jump but he jumped at the massive bridge that went over the mountains gap. I don't even know if he expected Sin to catch him or not as he jumped directly off the bridge from the back. Sure enough, Sin did catch him and when we regrouped with Armstrong he was a mess. All he could say was to find Ed quickly, and watch out for you. He said all Sin wanted was you and Ed…when he came to about an hour ago he couldn't recall any event in the past two days. Doctor Ty ended up taking blood samples from him just to be safe, he was drugged, that is for certain. Armstrong had a amnesia episodic type of drug injected into him, the Doc says he probably won't ever remember the past couple of days."
"Damnit!" Roy slammed his fist on the ground as he tried to remain calm, "I guess its time I make a call then."
"To who? Alphonse? Roy, he would be destroyed."
"I understand that but I rather him be destroyed now and help us then be heartbroken when he has to attend his own brother's funeral which we both know will happen if we do not get our asses in gear as soon as possible! I need a phone Hughes."
"No."
Roy's eyes widened as Hughes looked up, his green eyes were sharp as he glanced away. "When we were in the ambulance Ed would only mumble a few key things. They were: Keep Al away and I'm sorry."
"I see…." Mustang sighed as he sat up and started ripping the bandages off his worse wound on his side.
Hughes quickly held Roys wrist away, preventing him from doing anything further, "No…I'm sorry but I can't allow you to do anything in your condition. Please, just get some rest so we can figure out a plan."
Mustangs eyes narrowed, "Where are we?"
"We are off the road a bit from the mountain path, none of us could get very far with our injuries."
"How is everyone else?"
"Armstrong is healed up pretty well, just sore, I don't know how the hell he stood his own like that but he did. As for Doctor Ty, he got out really lucky too, only because Armstrong protected him and Ed when he put them in the ambulance. I am fine and you…that wound you just agitated needs to be wrapped and cleaned because, like I said, you were impaled. Not only that but your concussion was once again worsened by a direct blow from all the debris, your ankle was also fractured when you got pinned and dug out by Armstrong and I."
Roy's eyes roamed over his friends frame once more as Hughes finally let go of his wrist and backed away a little. A pair of angry bright green eyes glared back, Hughes snapped, "Can you stop doing that?! Its creepy!"
"You got hurt badly, did he attack you directly?"
Hughes looked down in defeat, too exhausted to make any lies to lessen the guilt his friend was likely feeling. "When he saw me carrying you back to the ambulance he seemed to snap, that's when I sensed his goal was to capture both of you."
"I see. Thank you Hughes, for being honest, I am sorry I got you involved in this." With that Roy tore his bandages off completely revealing a stitched up gash that ran very deep. "He spared me…he could have easily killed me on the spot. He has a lot of explaining to do."
Hughes gasped as he realized what his friend was about to do, he was too late as Roy snatched a single glove and snapped a flame over the wound. The results were immediate as the gash quickly closed together painfully. Roy bit down on a nearby cool rag as the process was repeated quickly on several other problem gashes, soon he swung his legs over and stood uneasily. Taking gauze Roy set off on quickly wrapping his ankle tightly not really minding the pain as it seemed to calm his rage.
"You are an idiot ya know that?! I am not letting you leave Roy, we don't even have a plan! I know you and Sin have a rough history-"
"No Hughes, you don't understand. Sin didn't have a personal vendetta against all those kids he raped in Ishval, so what do you think will happen when he actually feels he has a reason to do this? It's obvious at this point that revenge is the game, the only part I can't truly understand is what more there is to all of this. In any case, I am going now."
Holding out his arm weakly Hughes sighed, "I am not letting you leave, just rest for a day longer and we can-"
"A day will be too late!" Roy looked down as his ruffled hair covered his distraught facial features. "I'm sorry Hughes." It happened in a flash, Roy knew what his friend was planning, he knew it all too well. He took the hidden syringe away from Hughes with ease from its place in his military jacket.
"How did you-"
"I'm sorry."
It was not long before Hughes fell to his knees as he fought to keep his vision, Roy lifted the disoriented man off the floor and made haste in laying him on the makeshift stretcher bed they had tried to make as comfy as possible. He left the now empty sedative syringe on the nearest seat, Hughes still looked surprised as Roy looked at him apologetically.
"Roy…please…"
"I will be fine, your wife would kill me if you came home even more beaten up than you already are." With that Mustang took a moment of silence, he knew it was the only peace he was guaranteed as he turned and exited the military tent.
Armstrong and Doctor Ty were sitting on an oversized fallen tree out of ear shot, Roy took a moment to soak in the peaceful scenery. The dying fire in front of the tent as well as the many beautiful trees in their fall colors surrounded him, he smirked, "looks like the trees are on fire to me." His rage went unfiltered as he walked up to the two bruised men in front of him.
"Colonel!" Armstrong saluted, "It is good to see you are doing better sir!"
"Thank you Armstrong…"
"Colonel?"
Roy tried to put as much concern in his tired voice as he could, "You have to hurry. Hughes has just fallen in my tent, I tried my best just to get out here."
"Oh no! Stay put colonel we will return shortly to help you back to the tent!" With that, Armstrong and doctor Ty were out of the picture leaving Mustang sprinting to the ambulance with keys in hand. As soon as he took off down the rocky roads of the beautiful mountain road he saw Armstrong and Doctor Ty trying in vain to run after him, shifting gears he sighed, "sorry men, but this is my fight now."
Mustang had no clue where to even start, the only plan he thought through was sneaking away with the ambulance, nothing more. A sudden idea came to mind, he was perfect bait, if Hughes was right then Sin wanted both Fullmetal and himself. With a smirk Roy stepped on the gas making the vehicle go as fast as it willed itself, "I don't have time in picking places to go and wait for this sick bastard- if he really wants revenge then he won't let me die."
It was risky, it was impulsive, it was also the effects of way too much morphine but Roy did not care. If this was going to get him closer to Fullmetal then so be it.
Earlier…
"Roy….you really are a bastard ya know that?"
"You are a sore loser Hughes, you should have seen this coming."
Hughes laughed weakly as his eyes drooped even more, "you're right….so don't make me regret it more than I already do."
"Hm! I'll try not to-"
"No Roy. You have to. Get fullmetal and get your ass back here- safely."
Mustangs grim look sickened Maes, even half out of it he knew that look. "You need a plan, a-a solid plan! Please! This is suicide!"
"I have a plan Hughes." With a quick jolt Mustang reopened his biggest wound with a sickening crack.
"W-what are you doing?!" It was agonizing for Hughes, he could barley move let alone formulate a reaction, here he was so close to his friend that just reopened a deadly wound and was bleeding everywhere and there was not one thing he could do except whisper as he tried to fight off sleep in hopes to talk sense into his deranged friend.
"Relax, see?" Roy held up a small glowing chip and, with an almost straight face, shoved the chip far into the now heavily bleeding side wound he reopened. Not long after this another snap was heard as the charred and scarred up skin roughly came back together again.
"Jesus Roy….what the hell was that?" Hughes was by now having to close his eyes as he talked, he knew it was futile but at the same time he knew this was all the information him and the others would have to go off of when he woke again.
"Here." Handing over an oversized box Hughes looked down to see a radar with a single red and green dot. "It isn't much but this tracker will hopefully lead you to where I am, it's the newest in the military's equipment so call this a top secret test run. Anyways, that red dot is you and the compass on this will help you find that green dot. That's the plan anyways…"
Hughes looked at his friend with the last of his strength. "You…are just going to let him take you? Roy…"
"I've made up my mind Hughes. I hope to see you soon, I will radio HQ for the rest of my team to come and pick you up. Please let them find us after that…you and the others need rest."
Hughes smile grew at that, "Psh, I'll be there to save your sorry ass. Can't stop me." His smile shrank as he tried and failed to open his eyes, "Roy…be safe, or I will kill you…"
Present…
Roy sighed as he felt the morphine surge through his veins, he couldn't help but crack a sinister smile as he brought a bottle up to his lips, all military ambulances were equipped with one bottle of cheap yet strong alcohol. It was more of a running joke than anything among the army men, they called it a last ditch effort/good luck charm. Either way, it was working in Roys favor now, the flame alchemist had to admit that this was all pretty impulsive but his intentions were pure and determined- get to Fullmetal.
Roy sighed as the speedometer read 70, "Come on Sin, where are-what is that…" Roy focused his half drunken mind on a slight red glow, he stepped on the gas pedal. The red was blinding as he kept driving towards it, before he could even think to step on the brakes everything came to a halt and brought Roy Mustang the gift of unconsciousness.
Roy groaned, "there is no way in hell I passed out again…" Rubbing his head he looked around to his now musty surroundings, he looked up just in time to get kicked in the stomach.
"Nice of you to join in the fun Flame alchemist Roy Mustang!"
Roy smirked despite the intense pain ripping through his body, "About damn time, I thought I was going to have to shoot a flare gun. Here I thought you were this skilled ex- state alchemist that would notice a random car driving around the split second it happened- guess you lost your touch over the years."
Sins smile faltered a bit, "so you wanted to get caught, hm? Any plans now flame? I have already taken your gloves you know, without those you are pretty useless. In fact…"
Roy was taken aback as Sin cuffed his wrists together tightly and threw him in what seemed to be a small iron barred prison cell.
"You are almost as useless as my poor little fullmetal alchemist is without his automail, I mean he was helpless before but because of you…"
Roys stomach turned as Sin shut his cell door and locked it then proceeded to open an identical cell right beside him, the disgusting man lifted a lifeless body off the ground bridal style as a single lightbulb was clicked on above the two.
"It's been really easy to make my little alchemist mine! It hurt when he had his arm, he would try to push me away and put up a fight! But now? Hm….now he is all mine for the taking." Sin threw Ed onto a single dirty mattress the cell had and smirked down at him. Roy could feel the rage eating away at him as he glared at Sin.
"Why the hell isn't he moving Sin? Surely you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble of manipulating and scaring the kid half to death just to kill him."
"Why of course not Roy! He isn't dead….just exhausted its been a busy day to say the least." Sin chuckled as he pulled at the torn collar of Ed's usual black undershirt, "I'll let you all rest for now, tomorrow we must celebrate your arrival! I'm so glad you decided to join in on the fun." Sin laughed a bit before slamming the cell closed and disappearing around a cluttered corner leaving Roy a slight drunken heap on the cold concrete floor.
Mustang looked around carefully as he ignored the pain that was becoming more and more overwhelming by the second, it seemed like they were in a smelly rundown basement somewhere, no windows, one exit that was likely heavily locked and out of sight. Not to mention the iron bars that surrounded both him and Ed, it pained him that he couldn't even be in the same cell as Ed to offer some kind of comfort. Right now though all Roy could do was situate himself against the barred divider and quietly watch Ed's hesitant breath, it was the only comfort the man was going to get from being here.
"I'm sorry Ed…I should have come up with a better plan than this but I couldn't stand the thought of you having to be alone with him anymore. We will get out of here soon enough, just hold on."
Hours passed as Roy finally found enough peace to rest his eyes, the light above Ed flickered as a slight gasp was heard. "Fullmetal?"
"….Mustang? Is this some kind of sick drug hallucination?"
"No, no Ed its me! I let myself get captured but I have a pla-"
"You…what? You what?!"
"Listen Fullmetal, it's all going to be ok." Roy reframed from saying anything more about the plan realizing that there may be cameras around.
The broken boy slightly sat up enough to lean his back on the concrete wall behind him, a slight hysterical laugh erupted from him as he brought his shaking hands to his face. "We are going to die, we're going to fucking die down here Mustang. Without your gloves and my arm I would like you to explain how in the hell anything else is going to happen."
Mustang shifted uncomfortably as another hysterical chuckle came from the teen. He narrowed his eyes as Ed tried to bring his knees to his chest and stopped short.
"Are you hurt?"
Ed looked away from him even more as he mumbled a solemn no.
"Hm...no offense Fullmetal but you look like shit." Mustang took note of the newly wrapped bandages on Ed's arm. "He gave you new bandages?"
Ed chuckled, "said he had to keep his prized possession in tact."
Roy gripped his fist at that, "I see….well...do you want to sit over here so we can get these damn handcuffs off of me and plan an escape? We both need some medical attention, no use in sticking around here any longer."
"No."
"…What was that?"
"You heard me! I said no! We can't escape you idiot! Unless you can come up with some kind of new alchemy then-
"I have chalk hidden in my shoes, I always carry some with me."
It was as if Roy Mustang had somehow ignited a new fire in the teen as the boy struggled to stand and limp over. The closer the alchemist got though, the more enraged Roy became, he was covered in bruises and cuts.
As Ed set to work on getting the cuffs apart, Roy took that opportunity to have some kind of conversation with the kid. He had a lot of questions, but he wasn't even sure what Ed had been through in the past day alone, it was obvious some form of abuse happened in the short time Ed had been gone.
"How are the others?"
"…They are healing up, the land mines caused a lot of minor burns to them all but despite that and Hughes having a few broken ribs and some serious bruising everyone got out relatively safe."
Ed looked extremely guilty as he nodded, "are you ok?"
"I managed to get out with a slightly messed up ankle but that's all…although my capture by Sin has left some broken ribs it seems- nothing major though." Roy hoped the kid bought that, he couldn't stand to see the guilt in his tired eyes.
"I'm sorry…I lead him right to where we were colonel. He promised he wouldn't touch Al or Winry if I just gave myself up, he told me he knew exactly where to hit on Als armor to- to make sure that his soul was eradicated. That's why I will get you uncuffed and we will fight like hell to get out of here so I can find this damned philosopher stone and apologize to Hughes and the others for putting everyone in danger like that."
Roy smiled a bit at Ed's new found determination, it somehow seemed to calm the man's mind knowing that despite all the awful events, Ed was always going to have one goal. As Edward set on weakinging the cuffs connecters Roy could no longer hold back on a question that had been bugging him ever since Hughes informed him of everything after he passed out.
"Fullmetal. Why did you jump out of the ambulance like you did? Were you planning on Sin catching you or-"
"I knew he was watching…I guess I didn't care if he had caught me or not when I jumped."
Mustang looked down solemnly as his heart dropped a bit, silently making a vow to get Ed some kind of help for all the shitty stuff that was now clearly plaguing the teens mind. He wouldn't get into it now though, they had to survive first.
"There!"
Roy pulled the now broken cuffs apart and smirked at Ed, "let's go." Pulling the chalk from his shoe Mustang set to work on a transmutation circle- as soon as he started though the chalk turned a faint red and disintegrated. "What the hell-
"I am quite offended you both seem to think I am an idiot!"
Ed looked up in terror as Sin frowned at him through the iron bars, putting his head down the teen grit his teeth. "No."
"Hm?" Sin began opening the cell when Ed stood and glared at him, "You are going down you sick bastard!" Picking up a rando broken off piece of wood from the mattress beside him Ed charged at the greasy man in front of him, all it took was a bright flash of red light to stop Ed in his tracks.
"Fullmetal!" Roy called out in horror as blood splattered the walls.
Sin raised the fallen boy up by his neck and sighed, "just when I had him trained you come and make him feel like he has a chance, that is quite annoying you know Mustang. Here-" Sin threw the bloodied Edward into Mustangs cell along with a semi clean rag. "Make sure he lives, I have work to attend to."
Roy quickly gathered the bleeding teen in his arms as he tried to comfort him, he growled as he looked up to see Sin starting to leave, "you bastard! I need more then a dirty rag! He still has broken ribs and you just fucking impaled him! He could die!"
Sin smirked, "well then you better think of something quick then, here." Tossing a roll of gauze Sin waved the two off as he disappeared around the corner once more.
After hearing the door shut and lock, Mustang desperately pulled Ed's shirt off of him and assessed the damage, it had all happened so fast. One second Ed was charging towards Sin ready to kick some ass and the next he was being impaled in the side by the very weapon he was carrying.
"Shit…shit…I should have known better." Ed growled under his breath as Roy attempted to get the largest chunks of splintered wood out of the bleeding wound.
"Just hold on Fullmetal, stay with me." Roy shook as he got one last tiny chalk piece out of his shoe that had broken off, he could only draw a small and simple transmutation with it but that was all he needed. "Here." Mustang let Ed bite down on the cleanest part of the rag as he focused his energy, Ed's screams were muffled as fire skillfully covered the massive wound and sealed it. The flame alchemist sighed as Ed's eyes rolled back and he went still.
"I'm sorry Ed…it was the only way to keep you alive." Mustang shifted his weight against the wall behind him as he let the boys head rest on his lap, taking in the bruise marks up close the man felt rage run fresh through his veins. It was clear to him that Ed had once more been raped, the cuts and bruise marks on his arm showed just how much Ed was trying to get away along with his busted lip and blackened eye. "That bastard is going to pay one way or another…we will get out of here Fullmetal and we will kill him."
Mustang shook a bit as he said this, not realizing what horrors lay ahead as the next day dawned.