This is super late -,- thank you all for being so patient! Hope you enjoy~
Havoc nervously tapped the wheel of the jeep as he glanced in the rear view mirror and saw the somber bunch of men he had to pick up only minutes ago. Havoc had gotten the luxury of having to drive for hundreds of miles with an overly worried Riza Hawkeye ranting about how ignorant the colonel was. To make matters worse, as soon as he arrived everyone seemed to be in such a bad mood, he supposed it was just the uncertainty in the air.
As the jeep pulled in to a rather nice hotel parking lot, Havoc looked back at the three worse for wear men sitting in the back seat, "my orders were to let you rest here, Breda and the others are on their way now and once they arrive we will take care of the rest." He held his breath as he let the information sink in to the other men.
"Yea right, Roy drugged me! If I don't go I will never hear the end of how he was "one step ahead" of me or something. Nope! I have to come." Crossing his arms Hughes glared at Havoc as he opened the jeep door and gathered with everyone else to the trunk of the beaten up ride, they had crammed the vehicle with all sorts of medical equipment and food the men had left.
Havoc sighed and gave Hughes a quick look over, he noticed the man was slurring slightly and had a rather bad gash that was bleeding through its bandages. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop him though, and while rank did not matter on this unofficial, yet official, mission he still felt he could not simply boss the man to death, so he gave in, "we do have one extra seat…"
Hughes nodded triumphantly, "I'm coming then."
Havoc looked over at Riza for support in this decision, she gave no indicators at all with worry still evident in her features. She was rather hurt that the colonel gave her little to no information in the past several days, all she knew was both him and Ed were likely trapped with a malicious man.
With no other conversation needed the three tired adults helped Doctor Ty and Armstrong pack their things into the luxurious hotel. "Please give Colonel Mustang my warmest regards." Armstrong said, almost in shame. He had felt guilty that both he and doctor Ty had let the injured colonel get away and wanted only the best for the man.
Hughes smiled, his exhausted green eyes gave a hopeful glint as he shook hands with the massive man, "you have my word Armstrong! Ill tell them that I after I kick his ass for being so stupid."
Doctor Ty took this moment to step in as the three soldiers turned to leave out of the lobby, "Lieutenant Hawkeye."
Hawkeye turned, worry still clear across her face. Doctor Ty mentally cursed the flame alchemist for making such a lady worry, "he knew what he was doing my girl, those two are very stubborn and work well together. I am sure everything will be just fine, here is some medical supplies I packed up- just in case the two need immediate care. Stay focused Riza…you will find him." The old doctor smiled warmly as Hawkeye seemed to believe him, "yes sir, thank you."
With that, the small team left, Armstrong and Doctor Ty then went to their room where they set up a makeshift hospital room in preparation for the two likely injured patients they would soon be getting. Mustang had been smart enough to leave any detached medical equipment and medications behind for the doctor in the event he needed to help Hughes.
"Do you truly believe he will be alright?" Questioned Armstrong.
The doctor sighed, "I do…however I know how careless these two are and I have had several unfortunate patients that got the rare and unfortunate luck of fighting Sin. Those patients were some of the most gruesome cases I have had in my whole career…so I suppose we just hope and wait."
Hughes sighed as he sat in the back of the military jeep, he had been shoved right in the middle of a snoring Breda and restless Fuery. Taking a steady breath, he focused his emerald eyes on the bored expression of Havoc in the rear- view mirror, "how do you even know where to go?! We are in the middle of nowhere!"
Riza took this opportunity to untuck a small device from her arm, "the colonel didn't leave us with a complete hopeless cause."
That's when Hughes remembered, "that's right! He has that chip in him! Egh, how could I forget? That maniac reopened his wound and preformed that little operation in front of me! Are we close?"
"We are."
Hughes looked over apologetically to the worried blonde woman in front of him. "It'll be ok…looks like the place will be deserted! Won't be much to hide- or have to hide for that matter. Roy knew what he was doing…I'm sure of it." Even Maes didn't completely trust his own voice- and yet he stared confidently at a now smiling Riza, a new determination in her eyes as Havoc slowed in front of what seemed like a small shack.
"Are you sure these coordinates are right?" Breda asked, obviously unimpressed with the sorry sight of the beaten down shack only feet away from their jeep.
"No, this is it…somethings wrong though."
All four men looked at Riza as she quickly unclipped her seatbelt and turned to Fuery, "Phone Falman at the hotel- make sure he informs Doctor Ty to be prepared."
Fuery nodded as he set to work on organizing a small plot of ground for all of his technical equipment.
"Breda, can you stay with Fuery and be our lookout?" Hawkeyes voice left no room for much argument, so he simply nodded.
Hughes carefully followed behind Havoc as Hawkeye lead the nervous pair through the shacks door, "Jeez….what a mess. No doubt someone has been living here recently. What is that horrible smell?!"
Havoc flicked his cigarette as he reinserted the smoking tobacco back into his mouth, he purposely breathed in the strong odor of his own cigarette smoke as the three of them split up.
Hughes sighed as he carelessly walked through the tiny excuse of a kitchen and back into the main area where the other two somber soldiers stood. "Nothing, huh?" Hughes looked down in defeat only to realize something that made him thankful he worked in investigating crime scenes such as this. "Seems kind of weird that Sin would have such a classy rug in this filth."
The other two quickly caught on as the three peeled back the massive rug, sure enough there was a latch. "Well what do you know! Sin's not that smart afterall, this is amateur stuff. I'm definitely going down first, gatta give Mustang a piece of my mind for not letting me join the party."
Both Havoc and Hawkeye knew that Hughes's babbling was a sign of his nervous worry to get to his best friend and Edward to make sure they were safe.
Havoc could not help but feel a chill run down his spine as they opened the heavy latch, the stench from earlier intensified so much that he decided to simply put his cigarette out, not wanting to have to breathe in anymore of this dreaded air than he had to.
"I will stay up here, I want to be sure I catch Sin if he tries to escape." Hawkeye said, a glint in her eye as she cocked her gun and looked as alert as ever, she knew Sins ways all too well. He was predictable when it came to fighting in these situations. When the going got tough he would almost always bolt mid fight, Hawkeye was more than prepared to shoot him.
Hughes nodded as he descended down the narrow wooden staircase, he let Havoc catch up and ready his weapons as the two approached a single door.
Looking behind him, Hughes counted down with his fingers as the two readied themselves to what they expected to be an unforgiving fight. As soon as Hughes slammed the door open however, everything was still except a struggling Colonel Mustang that was chained to what appeared to be an actual holding cell.
"Roy!" Hughes ran blindly towards his friend not even sparing a glance at the horror that was right in front of the man. It was far too dark to see much as it seemed all the lights in the dank smelling room were broken, Havoc switched a flashlight on and crouched down with Hughes beside his commanding officer.
"Get off me! Damnit, get away! Bastard!"
"Hey! Hey….Roy its Maes Hughes- your friend? We finally got here thanks to the tracking chip you have." Hughes made quick work at setting the man free, thankfully having the correct heavy- duty tools to split the chains, only for Mustang to rush past him.
"Dear God….."
"Hm?" Havoc shined his flashlight to what Hughes was staring horrifically at, what Mustang had ran to.
Havoc was mortified as his widened eyes took in the massive transmutation circle in front of them, he could not stop staring at the small shaking child covered in blood that now rested in Mustangs shaking arms. Blood, tissue, veins, limbs, everything that made up a human body lay around the two hysterical beings in the middle of the transmutation.
"Roy….what the hell happened here? Where is Sin?" Hughes tried softly.
A soft muffled sob only came from the crumbling flame alchemist, "we have to get away from here."
Ed stirred a bit at that as he grabbed hold to the Colonels shirt, Hughes concern grew as he saw how dilated the kid's eyes were. "He's going to eat us too! Truth…he's going to get us and tear us apart!" Ed broke away from the Colonels arms and landed in a heap of veins and tissue, an ear-piercing scream erupted from the teens mouth as he scooted towards the nearest wall and began clawing at his own arms.
Hughes and Havoc shared an equally distraught glance as they helped the silenced Roy Mustang up, he refused to let them near Ed as he stalked towards the now hyperventilating boy. He carefully tried to clean some of Sins tissue off the boys shoulder, "Edward, we have to go, now."
"N-no! Idiot, Sin will catch us- he will hurt us even more! I rather die here!" Tears streamed down Ed's paling face as his breathing hitched. Before Mustang could even think of anything the boy slumped forward, Roy held his hand out catching the boy by his chest and steadying him against the wall.
After checking Eds pulse, Roy ignored any and all pain from his broken fingers and other serious injuries and managed to hold Ed in his arms, close and safe as he stood with the unconscious boy. He quickly walked out of the room, not once looking back at the indescribable scene. Roy was numb, no amount of pain from his broken fingers or his likely severe concussion were going to stop him from getting Ed out.
Hughes willed Havoc to continue with Mustang, to aid the man in climbing up the damned stairs. He had to force himself to look further into what was undoubtedly where Sin died. The dismembered body in front of him had very small clues that lead Hughes to believe that it was in fact the damned pedophile that had caused this whole mess.
Emerald eyes hardened as Hughes took in the circle around him, he didn't have to know a lot about alchemy to understand that what lay before him was in fact a human transmutation circle- the most forbidden act of alchemy, at his feet.
"What the hell happened here….."
Roy Mustang was a mess- no…he was more then just that, it sounded too simple to put his mood in such a commonly placed category. No, Roy was mortified even hours after his own rescue, he had not found the heart to mumble a single thing since he left the basement of that God Forsaken place. Neither had Fullmetal- but that was a whole different situation.
Mustang swung his feet over his bed to where he could, a bit painfully, sit up and be able to look over the bed that lay only a couple of feet away from his own. With the crammed hotel room bursting with medical supplies and equipment the two wounded soldiers along with a few guests and doctor Ty at times were able to fit.
It was about three in the morning now, the rescue had seemed to go without flaw from what Mustang gathered, and yet he still felt a massive pit in his stomach about the entire situation.
Who could blame him? The man had only hours ago witnessed a horrific human transmutation, one that would have combined the two people that had severely impacted his life for the good and bad. Thankfully, the transmutation had not done what Sin had intended for it to do, however there was still several troubling concepts about the entire ordeal that Roy himself couldn't understand.
"Looks like your focused pretty hard there Roy…wanna tell me what's wrong?"
He knew that voice, that level of concern and care could only come from a man that was supplied with years of friendship to the man, Hughes.
"Everything." Roy mumbled.
Shifting from his chair across the room Hughes carefully walked towards Roy and pulled up a tiny chair meant for the hotel rooms small work desk and placed it at Mustangs bedside. Hughes made sure to give his friend plenty of space as he sat quietly and waited for an explanation.
"What happened Roy?"
Mustangs breathing hitched, it was as if the question was prying into his mind and ripping out all the strands of the horrors that Roy himself could not understand.
"Sin…he raped Ed, beat him, completely broke him but that was not just out of spite for me. Sin had to break his spirit before the real plan took place… He wanted to join bodies with Ed so that one of my most hated enemies became a part of one of my small signs of hope for this world."
The tears came faster than Mustang had hoped, he secretly hoped the glint of the full moon through the blinds could not give Hughes enough vision to see his weakening façade.
The sounds of Edwards heart monitor filled the small silence as Mustang fought to catch his breath. "The whole plan was all building to that. Neither me or Fullmetal saw it coming. But its not just that…when you pass through the gate- when you commit any human transmutation, a price has to be paid from anyone involved in the transmutation. I think Sin thought I would be the sacrifice- but I wasn't in the circle and even if I was it doesn't work like that…everyone who passes the gate losses something.
Hughes looked over at Ed, suddenly feeling very ill as the kid's heart monitor beeped unsteadily. Ed]s health had been shit from the moment they got here and only seemed to be declining.
"I don't know what Ed gave up, but I'm sure it has something to do with why he won't wake up now."
And just like that, as if Truth itself opened the gate, Ed started to wake. Both men stumbled over, Hughes helped the injured Roy Mustang stand as Ed's golden eyes opened.
"Fullmetal?"
"Mustang? What- what the hell happened?!"
Hughes gently held a hand over Ed as he pressed a nearby button under Ed's medical bed, the button triggered a small amount of sedative and morphine every time it was pushed- while Ed had not officially awoke yet Doctor Ty had graciously set up the system just in case- considering Ed's history with freaking out as soon as he woke up.
"Truth…saw him again! I….I've never seen anyone's body get ripped up like that….he…Truth…he fucking ate Sin. Limb from limb…the only things left were bones and a few bits of flesh and organs…I…It was…I dunno…what if Sin made it though? What if- what if it was an illusion?! What if-"
Roy kept his face stern, "what about you? You have to give up something too, right? What did he take?!"
Ed's eyes teared up as he looked away, "He actually went easy on me his time…but he did take something away, no matter how much I tried to explain to him that it was not my fault."
"Edward…" Hughes tried.
"Somethings wrong with my head…the chemicals or just physical chemistry of it…not memory loss, but I can tell. Truth told me…that the gate demanded a price and physical components were in full stock."
Mustangs face contorted into an expression in which Hughes himself had never quite witnessed before. Pity, anxiety, anger, worry- all wrapped up into one facial expression. "…get some rest Fullmetal, we will figure it out."
As Mustang attempted to turn back to his bed, Ed caught hold of his oversized t-shirt sleeve, "do you still see it? The…well the way it all looked after…"
Mustang faced Ed once more, "of course….it was one of the worse things I have ever seen…there was nothing left of him."
Ed nodded, "…are you hurt?"
"Not as much as you are, don't worry, I've got plenty of morphine to hold me and my broken fingers over. I got off easy compared to you." While Mustang was lying about the full extent of his own injuries, it was painfully obvious that Fullmetal had definitely gotten the worse treatment. Mustang had ended up coming out with a moderate concussion, his broken fingers had been carefully gauze wrapped, his nose had been fractured and three of his ribs were in fact broken from where he tried to break out of the chains.
Edward however faced much more serious physical damage, doctor Ty had already stressed to Roy that as soon as they got to central they would have to access the damages from the horrific sexual abuse. Not to mention perform surgery on Edwards stab wound as there was internal damage done near Ed's vital organs. A lot of Edwards limbs and smaller bones had been fractured from the beatings and he also had a severe concussion which explained his slurring speech.
Mustang had been filled in on all the injuries of the boy, he was infuriated because he knew all too well that not only was the physical damage severe, but the mental hardship would be too.
"..can you stay?"
"Huh?" Mustang broke out of his trance as he looked at Ed in confusion.
"I keep getting nightmares, everything hurts, everything…I just want- you were there for most everything…you understand and I'm scared…" Edward refused to look up, he knew how vulnerable he looked. No arm, injured, slurring, drugged and crying- he hated it and part of what little spirit he had left wanted him to rebel- to insist he was fine and cuss everyone out. The words of that faint spirit died on his lips as he spared a glance towards Mustang, the man understood.
"Help me Hughes." Mustang rounded his own medical bed and began to nudge it awkwardly with his knees, urging it towards Edwards bed.
Hughes quickly joined as he pulled the bed over along with all the wires and machines attached. "You better both get back to sleeping before Doctor Ty gets in here and shines more lights in your eyes." Hughes chuckled a bit as the two strong willed males in front him quickly made haste in getting covered back up. The only thing separating the two now were their bed handrails on each side of them. Edward didn't seem to mind as long as Mustang was at arms length, he was soon fast asleep leaving Mustang staring at the ceiling and Hughes pulling his tiny chair to the one free side of Mustangs bed.
"Roy..what do you think he means by his mind?"
"I'm not sure…but I'm sure whatever it is will be one hell of a problem."
Hughes watched as his best friend slowly drifted uncontrollably into a dreamless sleep, he chuckled as he let go of the button under Mustangs bed. Quietly thanking Doctor Ty for putting sedatives on Mustangs bed as well.
The man quietly left the two to sleep as Hawkeye entered and took her turn in watching and worrying over the two.
As Hughes shut the door he was approached by Breda and Havoc, "any news?" Breda asked.
"They both woke up- not for long but enough to assure me they will be ok."
The two soldiers visibly relaxed, just as Hawkeye had when Hughes informed her as well.
"So…was that really a human transmutation circle?" Havoc questioned.
Hughes looked down the hall they were in and offered both men into his room, once the door was shut and locked Hughes finally sighed and stared at the two. "It was, apparently Sin tried to transmutate himself and Ed…I know more happened, but I didn't feel like I should pry right now. One thing I do know is that you guys need to help me make a legitimate report to hand in and somehow get these two at least a month or two on medical leave.
Havoc and Breda nodded confidently, "got it."
As the two set off for the likely grueling amount of paper work Hughes took a moment to place his head in his hands, "there is so much more to this already."