Hey everyone! Back after a long silence. Had to thaw this story out (hawhaw) because it's still a story I love and I want to share it. :) Hope you enjoy!
The group of Amestrians and Drachmans had talked well into the night, long past Jasmine falling asleep on her uncle Emil. Both sides had shared their tales for the past ten years, and by the time Al offered the guest room to all the visitors, Auren's soldiers had become friends with Ed's family and trust was infectious.
"Alphonse," Winry pointed out; " we have one guest room with one bed."
"Um...oh. Right..."
"The Colonel and his lovebird Lieutenant can share that room," Auren said with a smile. "My men and I can make camp in the living room."
"Are you sure?" Roy asked. "You're an awful long way from home and-"
"Are you offering Riza's comfort as well as your own?" Auren waggled his metal finger. "You will make a horrible husband one day."
"Hey! I-"
"Iyach," Auren hissed, though there was no bite to his silencing. "Don't wake Jasmine." He gently handed the girl off to her mother, standing to stretch his stiff body.
"Where will you sleep?" Riza motioned to the couch. "There isn't much room."
"If we sleep at all," Auren complained. "It's so warm here."
True to his whine, Auren found himself unable to sleep that night. Though his men had given him the couch and taken the floor despite his protest, Auren found himself tossing and turning and missing the sound of the wind whipping outside his cozy, snowy home.
He snuck outside where it was cooler, feeling the cool night breeze of Risembool against his northern-paled skin. He pulled his ponytail out and stared at the familiar scenery devoid of snow and found himself torn.
He had thought that when he returned to his family, he would want to stay. Instead, he wanted to return to Drachma-he wanted to return home.
Knowing he wouldn't sleep anyway, he headed off into the night, thanking the clear and snow-free sky for the wonderful visibility.
"Geez Ed," Winry complained as Auren yanked on his leg again; "can't you at least try to hold still?"
"I could if you would stop yanking on the wires!" Auren retorted as he crossed his arms. "Thank goodness we are going home soon. I need rest on the train."
"What? I don't understand Drachman."
"I said I could use a nap. I could not sleep at all last night."
"Too warm down south here?"
"Yeah," he murmured in reply, unable to tell her the whole truth. "It's worth it though...to visit you guys again."
"We missed you more than you know. I'm sorry."
"Hm? Sorry for what?"
"...I know how hard it must have been to face your past like that."
"No," he replied softly. "Not the past. The pain. It was not a choice of go to Drachma or go home-rather, go to Drachma or go to your death. I knew one day I see you again, but...as the time grew near...I began to fear seeing you. That you might hate me for what I chose. For who I'd become. For wishing-not to stay-"
"Hey, calm down. You're still my best friend, whether you've moved or if your bad attitude got worse." Her smile was marred slightly by Auren's inflicted bruise the day before, but she genuinely didn't seem to mind.
"...Right. Friends forever, da?"
"Da," she mimicked with a giggle. "Now tell me if this hurts when I-"
"Czyemovak!" He nearly leapt out of the chair before slumping in it with heavy breathing and a half-assed glare. "You did that on purpose..."
"I only wanted to confirm my theory. This wire was disconnected! What the hell have you been doing to it?"
"My mechanic did it for me," Auren muttered in explanation. "It kept shorting and causing me pain, and he was unable to fix it."
"So you just had it cut?" He shrank under Winry's glare.
"Ehh, well, it only creates small problem with movement..."
"Fine, I'll fix it. But it's gonna hurt when I reconnect it."
"Have mercy, Amestrian torturer," Auren joked.
"I have compassion. I have no need for mercy." She flashed him an evil grin with a matching glint in her eye, leaving him actually scared-and moments later, a loud howl of a Drachman curse was heard through the house.
"Are you sure you want to leave so soon?" Winry asked pleadingly as Auren and his men gathered in the kitchen.
"It was good to visit," Auren replied truthfully, doing his best to remain formal to stave off his aching heart; "but we must return to continue our mission...and to be sure that no curious souls happen to find us where we do not belong."
"Risembool is a small town, brother, but it's hardly filled with nosy people."
"I would rather err and say not nosy, but unwittingly curious. People mean well but may not always do well. And as strangers in a...familiar land, it would not be fortunate for us to be found."
"And with high ranking Amestrian officials as accomplices," Roy added with a grimace. "That would definitely not bode well."
"Let us depart before that occurs," Auren stated, though his sadness could be heard in his voice.
"I'm going to miss you so much, brother," Al said with a smile. "It won't be easy to be separated-but to know you're alive, even if you are a Drachman general named Emil. You changed a little bit-but little always was your style!-but you're still my brother."
"Ah har har, make fun of my height, I no longer have a Napoleonic complex as you Amestrians call it."
"So you really don't mind being called short?" Roy asked. "Diminutive? Tiny? Pint-sized?"
"Smaller than a bean!" Jasmine cried happily as she ran through the room like any carefree kid.
"Shut up," Auren growled, looking quite aggravated despite his claims. "Or I will transmute a spear right up your-"
"Mom! Dad! We've got visitors coming!" Jasmine announced as she appeared in the room again. "Maybe they need their automail fixed!"
"I didn't have any appointments today, nor any phone calls," Winry said curiously. "Alphonse? Are you expecting anyone?"
"No...Colonel?"
"No, I wasn't." He watched from a concealed part of the window, cautious not to be seen-and cursed as he saw two military-clad officers exit the car. "Well, looks like Risembool has a curious person somewhere."
"We have been discovered?!" Auren cried in alarm.
"That doesn't completely surprise me, given how you took out those guards at the border shack. You always did act first and think later..." Roy sighed, then added as an afterthought while he mused for the best plan of escape; "How you made it to General is beyond me."
"O' iyach," Auren muttered. "Would we be better to run or hide?"
"Definitely run," Roy replied to Drachman with his native tongue. "These men won't be careless to pass over anything hidden, even alchemically sound enclosures."
"We need a distraction," Gregor stated. "We will never escape the way we came."
"I think we can handle that. Alphonse, shall we go greet the guests?"
"And as there's an extra car outside, we'll go as well," Riza added to Winry's statement.
"You men can manage it alone, can't you?" Roy watched the three Drachmans in concern, somehow only more nervous when Auren gave him a thumbs up.
"Don't forget," Riza warned them; "If you're caught, it's not only your own imprisonment to worry about. Everyone in this house will be in serious trouble."
Auren glanced between his former Amestrian coworkers and his family, then to Jasmine and frowned.
"We'll be careful. Come on men, welcome to espionage on steroids!"
Roy shook his head as he turned to play the ruse with the others, leaving the Drachman men to the mercy of Auren's bright plans.
"I told that idiot we would be fine," Auren muttered as they made their way along the old walking path. "I may not have been here in over a decade, but I remember my childhood town."
"It is very nice here," Erik commented. "Much warmer than home."
"Maybe when we make peace, you'll want to move down here?"
"Those opportunities will be available, won't they? It's a very intriguing thought..."
"I knew it, you couldn't wait to get away from me."
"Whether you ask it of me or not, I'd follow you anywhere."
"The same for me," Gregor added in, both giving Auren a loyal smile.
"I'm blessed to have such good friends," Auren commented, pausing to rest against the low wall, for he was feeling the effects of the heat.
"Freeze!"
They all stiffened as the new voice barked behind them and caught them off guard. With a glance, they found they were met by two men standing only yards away, guns pointed directly at them.
"Can I help you men?" Auren asked in his voice devoid of Drachman accent.
"You can drop the act, for starters," the blonde growled. "We heard you talking in the Drachman language."
"Yeah, it's a hobby of ours. We want to be able to help the government one day," Auren lied, able to do so very convincingly.
"Yeah, the Drachman one!"
"Maybe that too," Auren said thoughtfully. "Instead of waging war with Drachma, we could negotiate peace instead."
"Drachma doesn't want peace," the man snorted. "They constantly attack us for our land and our riches."
"Can you blame them?" Gregor asked in his Amestrian accent. "Look how beautiful it is here. Any man from any land would be lucky to live here."
"Yeah. I still don't believe you're Amestrian, though."
"No wonder Drachma attacks Amestris," Auren sighed. "Such discord among its own men; Drachma must think fighting is what Amestris wants!"
"You can insult our country all you like, we have you in our sights," the other man spoke up finally, his voice level and serious. "Argue your innocence all you like, because until we hear the order to release you and your men, you're ours."
"Yeah? What grounds do you have for holding us? An interest in linguistics?"
"You look strikingly like the description of General Auren."
"Ohhh, I heard of that guy! I have a buddy up in Xolemir who said he took a punch from that guy. You must be mistaken, I was told he was a lot taller."
"Yeah, nice try."
"Could you at least fetch us some water?" Gregor asked diplomatically. "We're gonna die in this heat."
"Heat? It's lovely weather today," the first man said. "Though with your paled skin I wouldn't say you're used to a lot of sun exposure, eh, Drachmans?"
"You're just gonna stick on us and be a royal pain in the ass aren't ya?" Auren sighed. "We really just would like to get on with our day, and then get back home to Xolemir. What do we have to do to get away from you?"
"Disarm us," the first man replied with an outright laugh.
"Oh, is that all?" Gregor grinned, staying out of the way as Auren clapped, formed his arm blade, and leapt forward, slicing the mens' guns into unusable pieces still in their hands.
"How did-"
Auren continued his rapid assault by knocking one officer's legs out from under him and landing him on the other, temporarily disabling them both. Gregor continued his amused overseeing of the scene as Erik appeared next to Auren to hold one officer at gunpoint as Auren held his arm blade against the mouthy man's throat.
"I think you must have the wrong men, am I right?" Auren hissed.
"Just a few men who look like the ones we're after, interested in fluent Drachman, who carry weapons with them. I think you're mistaken, General."
"Too bad you weren't trained well enough to hold your prey once you caught them," Auren snorted as he returned to the familiarity of his Drachman accent. "Would you like to know what we are going to do with you before we leave?"
"Kill us? Send a message to our government?"
All three Drachman men laughed at the thought of that.
"That's hardly the message we want to send! My friend, Drachma wants peace! We just want to return home so that we may negotiate the peace soon. We can do no good sitting in a jail cell!"
"Peace?! With Drachma? That'll never happen!"
"As long as you deny it, you will never have it. However, I shall hope our countries will." Auren and Gregor released the men from threat of injury, beginning to turn away.
"Amestris doesn't need to negotiate with a man so full of lies!" The second officer leapt toward Auren with a knife, but he froze as he felt an arm around his neck and a blade at his own back.
"You would harm my General, the man who is trying to end warfare between our great countries?" Gregor questioned threateningly. "You want to touch him, you ask my permission."
"Gregor, thank you. Let the man go; I'm sure they will allow us freedom now."
"You are naive, aren't you?"
"That is not the reply I want outta you boys," Auren growled. "We are going home to Drachma. You will allow us. Do not make me knock you unconscious."
"Just because-"
"Stop, please," Erik suddenly spoke. "No more fighting. Between us or our countries." He stepped between the two groups of bickering men. "As a show of good faith, I will stay."
"You will what?!" Auren cried out in rage. "We can defeat them easily! I'll not have you remain here just to pacify them!"
"This is my choice, General. They will see that your peace is truth. All of Amestris will see." He smiled and turned to face the two cautious Amestrians. "I am your prisoner. My General and friend will go free, da?"
"Just because you're willing to sac-"
Quickly as Auren had done, Erik kneed the loudmouth and brought him to his knees, punching the other in the chest with little effort.
"They will go free while I stay, yes?"
"Come General, we must go."
"Not without Erik!"
"I will be alright, my friends. As long as you're successful, I'll be free soon anyway! Just promise to have my favorite beer smuggled to me!"
Auren grit his teeth and fought against brimming tears, glaring at the Amestrians as they caught his anger and anguish.
"I will get you home soon, I promise it!"
Erik watched with a smile as his friends disappeared into the treeline, no doubt to disguise themselves for the trip home. He turned to the nervous Amestrian men with a wide grin.
"So! Who wants a Drachman lesson?"